Here's a list of people I think could realistically make the team. We'll see how we're doing for cutdown day.
2 QBs
Lamar
Huntley
5 RBs
Dobbins
Edwards
Badie
Davis
Hill
1 FB
Ricard
4 TEs
Andrews
Boyle
Likely
Kolar
5 WRs
Bateman
Proche
Duvernay
Wallace
Vet/UDFA
11 OL
Stanley
Mekari
Powers
Phillips
Linderbaum
Colon
Zeitler
Cleveland
Moses
James
Faalele
That's 28 for offense.
6 DL
Calais
Pierce
Madabuike
Urban
Washington
Jones
4 plus 1 PUP OLB
Bowser
Houston
Oweh
Hayes
Ojabo
5 ILB
Bynes
Queen
Harrison
Welch
Biegel giving inside outside flexibility
6 CBs
Marlon
Peters
Fuller
Stephens
JAD
Pepe
6 S
Williams
Hamilton
Clark
Stone
Jefferson
Washington
27 for defense
3 for the new wolfpack
Thats only 58 total players with a WR vet added in there already. That means you need to make 5 cuts.
Obvious candidates are
Justice Hill
Colon
Welch
I dont know who that 4th guy and 5th are.
if this is a list of everyone who's in the conversation for a 53 man spot then id throw in jeremiah moon and some of the udfa LBs into that LB/OLB bubble group - not sure any of them actually make it but there's a realistic chance one of them could make it
and while i do think it's unlikely i think it might be worth throwing in kevon seymour and imam marshall into the DB mix
in terms of the cuts you need to make - im not sure i agree
1) i think welch is basically a lock... i think he's probably above harrison in the depth chart at this point and if not it doesnt matter because he's a 1st team special teams guy on a unit that's lost a ton of special teams experience the last couple of years
2) I think Justice Hill is in a straight up fight with Mike Davis for RB 4 and which one of them makes it may well be more related to the health of JK and Gus - but especially JK... if JK's nowhere near ready then Mike Davis may well come in and get RB2 reps as a change of pace to Gus with his experience as a 3rd down back but if JK and Gus are both ready to go, I'm not sure there's much point to retaining Davis unless he's miles ahead of Badie and Hill (which based on his 2021 film I'm not convinced is the case)
3) Colon i think is the only obvious OL cut
right now i think we're definitely keeping:
Offence (25)
2 QBs
4 RBs
1 FB
4 TEs
5 WRs (one not on the roster)
9 OL (this is where the first tough decision comes - Colon and who?)
which makes 25 on offence - i guess it's possible that we only keep 4 WRs and take that risk but we would have the worst WR corps in the league if that was the case - but it would also make it easier to carry 10 OL if we like them all
Defence (25)
6 DL
4 OLB (+1 on PUP)
4 LB
11 DBs
which makes 25 on defence - my guess is the roster massaging required to fit the extra WR on offence comes from this side of the ball and we cut someone like Biegel and hope he sticks on the PS and can call him up for the first few weeks if needed - i could certainly see us doing that same type of manoeuvre with someone like TJ the first few weeks too and maybe carry 9 LBs and 10 DBs rather than 8 LBs and 11 DBs
right now though, for me the only difficult cut comes if we add a WR to the roster (which i think we're all assuming we will) - if we don't then I think the only real questions in terms of the 53 right now are:
1) who misses out on the 9 OL spots?
2) who misses out on the 4 RB spots?