Getting Ready For Pro Football

That’s the way the NFL does it in the final weekend of the preseason. All 32 teams play on Thursday night and then, by 4 p.m. ET Saturday, each must cut its roster from 90 players to 53. More about that part in a sec.

Despite the general absence from the preseason finales of starting players, the NFL Network will televise two of the games. The Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions play at 7 p.m. and the Denver Broncos-Arizona Cardinals game follows at 10 p.m.

You won’t see many starters. And if you do see a few, you won’t see them for long. Nobody wants anybody of consequence to get hurt with the regular season coming up. The Cardinals, for example, won’t play starting quarterback Sam Bradford, who gets injured when people run by him, or rookie QB Josh Rosen, who has a similar reputation. So if watching two other guys who will never play compete for the No. 3 job is your thing, go for it. If not, go to the movies.

Now, back to the roster cuts. Not so many years ago in the NFL’s kingdom, the roster cuts were in phases. Then it got more abrupt – 90 to 75, 75 to 53. But at least in those scenarios, players who were released had a chance to catch on with another team in training camp. Now they’re kept around as practice bodies until the big cut – and 37 players multiplied by 32 teams equals 1,184 players dumped at once.

The ones who make the 53-man roster aren’t guaranteed of staying long. Teams have already begun targeting people they suspect will get released elsewhere with an eye toward signing them. So a player can celebrate making the team on Saturday and find out on Sunday he’s being let go.

Very humane.

For the intense fan who cares about the seventh defensive back on the roster or the fifth wide receiver’s potential, the last round of preseason games may hold some interest. You want to see Aaron Rodgers and his gazillion dollar contract? He’ll be on the sideline.

Odell Beckham Jr. and his megamillions? On the sideline.

Me? On the sideline as well. Let me know when the games count.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman