For nearly half the players on NFL preseason rosters, August 29 will be an awful, terrible, very bad no good day.
That’s the deadline for all 32 franchises to trim their lineups from the offseason limit of 90 down to the regular season maximum of 53. For some players, it will mark the end of their NFL careers. Others will be snatched up on waivers — setting off a secondary round of tough cuts — or added to practice squads. Either way, Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET deadline will alter the lives of rookies and veterans across the league.
Many of the players to be called into uncomfortable meetings will be undrafted rookies or low wattage depth options. But others will be recognizable names; former starters and Pro Bowlers hitting either a nadir in their careers or wrapping them up altogether. This won’t be an exhaustive list of the players forced to look for new jobs August 29; instead, it’s a greatest hits recounting of the most notable players to be cast aside as teams sort out what they hope is a championship roster.
So who are the biggest names to be released before the start of the 2023 NFL season?