Training camp practices have ramped up to full pads as August hits full swing. Soon, swollen rosters will be trimmed down to the NFL’s regular season limit of 53 players.
That’ll make August 29 a brutal day for young hopefuls and veterans looking to extend their careers by one more season. Cutdown day will shear rosters nearly in half, dropping 47 players to waivers and then, barring a last-ditch reprieve from a needy team elsewhere, onto the open market.
Each August, a handful of big-name players get caught in that chop. This preseason will give us more of the same — though it may be short on star power.
This year’s list of cut candidates lacks a certain panache. Teams spent wisely this offseason and made their difficult decisions back in March, leaving a dearth of big names who seem destined to be cast back to free agency as summer turns to fall. As a result, some of the players on the list are former starters or high value draft picks who haven’t quite made a lasting impact on the league. Other teams are well managed enough — or simply not in the market of trying to hard in 2023 — that they can hang on to their veterans and wait and see if a trade market opens up during the season.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the potential veteran cuts on which each team will have to make a tough decision this August.