Who got released on cutdown day?
Let's examine the big names now headed to free agency.
The NFL’s cutdown date is a day of triumph for a few feel-good fringe roster candidates, but mostly it’s a grim spectacle. Rookies and veterans in the middle of chasing a dream are fired, extremely publicly, sometimes with the conditional offer of coming back at reduced pay to be a warm body on the practice field.
2021 followed that protocol. This year’s transaction wire was littered with names familiar mostly to college football diehards and NFL fans who’ve dedicated their lives to memorizing every inch of the league’s depth charts. A few exceptions stood out, however. Former Pro Bowlers and every-week starters found themselves on the unfortunate end of an uncomfortable talk with their head coach.
Who ended up in the free agent pool, either expectedly or shockingly? Let’s talk about this year’s notables.
Cam Newton, QB, Patriots
Covered here. Mac Jones is New England’s starting quarterback, ?????? is the Pats’ backup, and the 2015 MVP had to spend a day in Twitter hell hearing all the worst people in social media make the same Bishop Sycamore joke.
Zane Gonzalez and Randy Bullock, kickers, Lions
Dan Campbell’s first 53-man roster as a head coach features zero kickers. The official unofficial depth chart, per Lions.com, looked like this at the cut-down deadline:
It’s so weird and so beautiful. Campbell looked inland at the world he wished to conquer, back toward his huddled, undermanned army at the shore, and decided burning the ships was the only way to motivate conquerors.
(Detroit will sign a kicker sometime. Probably. Maybe.)
John Brown, WR, Raiders
Brown has now been released by Vegas and Buffalo in the same year while Cole Beasley, the parent you absolutely do not want to make eye contact with at the playground, remains properly employed. The good news is this departure was reportedly Brown’s call. The better news is he made $3.2 million to never play a meaningful snap for Jon Gruden.
Everson Griffen, DE, Vikings
Seventh overall on Minnesota’s all-time sack list, which doesn’t seem that impressive until you consider the absolute monsters who’ve played for the Vikings. Carl Eller. Chris Doleman. John Randle. Why does Griffen truly deserve a spot alongside them in Twin Cities Valhalla? Because he sees objective truth.
Breshad Perriman, WR, Lions
Perriman has played five seasons in the NFL. Despite his release, he made $2 million playing for the Lions this preseason and earned more than $20 million in his pro career to date. He has roughly five good games on his resume. His agent deserves a medal.
Keke Coutee, WR, Texans
The days of talking yourself into picking up Coutee that week all your fantasy wide receivers are hurt or on a bye, only to watch him put up four points are over. Welcome to the era of talking yourself into picking up Amon-Ra St. Brown when your team needs a jolt, only to watch the Lions get shut out (in part because they don’t have a kicker).
Benardrick McKinney, LB, Dolphins
Miami’s kind of made it a point to bring in big name defenders and then discard them earlier than expected. McKinney follows Shaq Lawson (for whom he was traded), Minkah Fitzpatrick, and Kyle Van Noy out the door since 2019, though unemployment is probably preferable to playing for Houston right now.
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, S, 49ers
Clinton-Dix went from budding Packers All-Pro to the brink of relevancy in a span of three years. This is, somehow, a trend for Alabama players drafted by Green Bay. Eddie Lacy was offensive rookie of the year and then out of the league by age 28. JK Scott was a rare Day 3 punter who’s now unemployed three years later. If the Pack had drafted Julio Jones he’d be working for FOX by now.
JK Scott, P, Packers
Green Bay traded a sixth rounder earlier in the day for Rams backup Corey Borjoquez and a seventh rounder, ending Scott’s tenure in Wisconsin. Is Borjoquez a better punter than the man he’s replacing? It’s debatable. Is he a better tackler?
Most people are, yes.
Arlington Hambright, OL, Bears
Rest easy, my prince. Your name was too beautiful for this world.
Chris Hogan, WR, Saints
Back to the Boston Cannons with you.
Penny Hart, Aaron Fuller, Cody Thompson, Cade Johnson, Travis Toivonen, Connor Wedington, and Darece Roberson, WRs, Seahawks
Seattle currently has more running backs on its roster (Chris Carson, Rashaad Penny, Travis Homer, Nick Bellore, DeeJay Dallas, Alex Collins) than wide receivers (DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, D’Wayne Eskridge, Freddie Swaim). If we are, in fact, letting Russell Wilson cook this season, the Seahawks’ roster moves are the equivalent of stocking his kitchen with two slabs of prime beef, a teaspoon of cumin, a bunch of expired pumpkin pie filling, and a half-dozen pairs of safety scissors where his knives should be.
Lorenzo Burns, Jalen Camp, Doug Costin, Jeff Cotton Jr., Nathan Cottrell, Tyler Davis, Ben Ellefson, Josh Hammond, Collin Johnson, Tevin Jones, Jake Luton, KC McDermott, Devine Ozigbo, Austen Pleasants, Brandon Rusnak, Badara Traore, Tre'Vour Wallace-Simms, and Quincy Williams, Jaguars
All of these guys refused to get vaccinated. Or maybe all of them were vaccinated. Please don’t listen to our head coach, he doesn’t know what he’s saying, ha ha! Urban Meyer was just joking when he assumed he was still a college coach with absolute control over his roster and not something as silly as a players’ union to challenge him! Of course he’s not in over his head, despite saying he thought free agency would be like recruiting, or signing Tim Tebow to a tight end tryout, or drafting a first round running back despite having holes pretty much everywhere else on the roster, or hiring a strength coach who’d departed Iowa amid accusations of racism.
Yeah man, the Urban Meyer era is going great.