NFL teams have to cut down their numbers to 53 before the start of the regular season. This is done in two stages, after the third preseason game, teams are only allowed to have 75 players on their roster (down from 90 allowed up to that point). The final cut down comes after the last preseason game. At the Star Tribune, Mark Craig has the list of players waived in the first cut:
Here are the players who were released today. Eleven of them are undrafted rookies:
Bridger Buche.............. G...................... R....... Eastern Michigan Derrick Coleman............ RB..................... R................... UCLA Grant Cook................. G...................... R............... Arkansas Solomon Elimimian.......... LB..................... 1................. Hawaii Corey Gatewood............. DB..................... R............... Stanford Levi Horn.................. T...................... 2................ Montana Anthony Jacobs............. DE..................... R.............. Minnesota Kamar Jorden............... WR..................... R.......... Bowling Green A.J. Love.................. WR..................... R.......... South Florida Tyler Nielsen.............. LB..................... R................... Iowa Ernest Owusu............... DE..................... R............. California Tydreke Powell............. DT..................... R......... North Carolina Chris Stroud............... CB..................... R... Webber International Kerry Taylor............... WR..................... 1.......... Arizona State Bryan Walters.............. WR..................... 2................ Cornell
Craig says there were “no surprises”, but a few of these players were certainly mentioned multiple times in the press coverage of training camp, especially Elmimian, Taylor, and Walters. This is probably a useful caution not to put too much stock in training camp reports: the reporters have to file stories — preferably interesting stories — so they’re looking for different things than the coaches are.
The final cuts have to be done by Friday night.
