The first big round of cuts is hitting NFL training camps leading up to the Tuesday afternoon deadline for a 75-man roster. While as a Huddler the chances you drafted someone given their walking papers is highly unlikely, there are a few somewhat bigger names you should be cognizant of.
The first is Cardinals kicker Jay Feely, whose missed field goal over the weekend sealed his fate in Arizona. The plan is to roll with Chandler Catanzaro in the desert, but don’t be surprised if Feely pops up on another roster somewhere else before the season starts.
Last year the Bears were forced to roll with Josh McCown for almost half the season, and it worked out swimmingly—both for Chicago and for McCown, who signed a fat free agent deal in Tampa. Sunday the Bears cut Jordan Palmer, meaning this year’s candidate for the Marc Trestman career resurrection is Jimmy Clausen—worth knowing if you’re a Jay Cutler owner.
- Be sure to check out today’s “Targets, Touched & TDs: Preseason Week 3.”
With Week 3 of the preseason in the rear-view mirror it’s time for teams to start anointing their starting quarterback. In Minnesota Matt Cassel gets the nod over rookie Teddy Bridgewater, which shouldn’t come as a surprise; the Vikings’ plan all along was to hope the veteran showed enough in the preseason to win the gig, which he did. Bridgewater didn’t look bad either, giving the Vikings hope at the quarterback for the first time in a long time. More importantly, Cassel’s play shouldn’t dissuade you from spending your fantasy auction dollars on either Kyle Rudolph or Cordarrelle Patterson.
Despite attempts to ignite by Joe Theismann to ignite a quarterback controversy in Washington—the team’s television analyst said emphatically during Friday’s broadcast that Kirk Cousins has outplayed Robert Griffin III this preseason—Jay Gruden is comfortable with the status quo. Certainly there is concern at RG3’s inability to direct a touchdown drive this preseason, but Gruden reiterated RG3’s status by saying in a published report, “I feel good about the starters we have.” Now if Theismann is colluding with the team to up the asking price for Cousins in a trade to, say, the suddenly quarterback-deficient Rams…
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And finally, while the Rams appear content to roll into the season with Shaun Hill as their starting quarterback, there are more than a few names being floated as potential trade bait. You can start in New England, where Ryan Mallett is likely being held out of the final preseason game—perhaps to avoid an injury? Jimmy Garoppolo is the expected starter and new heir to Tom Brady’s crown. The Eagles (Mark Sanchez) and Vikings (Christian Ponder) also have quarterbacks with playoff experience they wouldn’t be averse to parting with. On the other side of the table, the Texans aren’t exactly locked in at the quarterback position either, so if they don’t compete with the Rams on the trade market they might battle them on the waiver wire.
