Scooped trolls on to the first week of the regular season practices. The rosters have been cut to 53 for every team and surprising moves were made. Let’s take a look and LOL accordingly.
Vikings Trade for Sam Bradford
Teddy Bridgewater is on IR after a gruesome knee injury and was lost for the 2016 season. GM Slick Rick Spielman made a bold move and traded 1st round pick in 2017 and 2018 4th round pick to the Eagles for QB Sam Bradford. Bradford has had some injury history missing large chunks of time and has had mediocre to poor QB ratings most of his career. Bradford rated 86.4 with the Eagles last season.
The Vikings were desperate at QB and had no faith in Shaun Hill apparently. Bradford has some pieces in place to succeed with a run game and defense but Bradford must survive the heavy pressure allowed from the Vikings offensive line. If Bradford finally improves, the Vikings have a shot at the playoffs. They had that playoff shot with Shaun Hill but gave up some big draft picks anyway. We’ll see if the Bradford trade will be worth the heavy price.
Packers Cut Josh Sitton
The Packers made a surprising move to cut top 5 starting guard Josh Sitton. Sitton is 30 with some back issues but is still a very good and durable guard. The Packers are limited on cap space for 2017 and have plenty of important players to sign next year. We’ll see if this allows more pressure on Rodgers. Interior pressure is the most important and if Lane Taylor fails, then the Packers could be in trouble. The Packers take a hit on depth as well with Linsley hurt too. The Packers could move Bulaga to guard and start rookie Jason Spriggs as another option. Once Linsley returns in Week 7, Tretter could play guard as well but for now is the starting center. The Packers have starting options but did downgrade and lose depth by cutting Sitton. 2nd round rookie Jason Spriggs, 7th round rookie Kyle Murphy and long-time turnstile and McCarthy favorite Don Barclay must provide the depth now.
The Packers kept 7 WRs including Jeff Janis and added RB Jhurell Presley as the 3rd RB after the Vikings cut him on Saturday.
Bears Sign Some Guards and Cut Gould
Much like Julius Peppers by the Packers, the Bears pounced on Josh Sitton by signing him to a three year deal worth 21.75 million. The Bears also signed right guard Kyle Long to a 4 year 40 million dollar deal. The Bears interior line should be set for the next three seasons and rookie 2nd round pick Cody Whitehair could play center or right tackle if needed behind Ted Larsen (center) and Bobby Massie (right tackle). The Bears improved with this move despite Sitton’s age (30) and back history.
The Bears cut long time kicker Robbie Gould. This was a surprising move. Connor Barth will be the Bears kicker this season. Pernell McPhee went to PUP and will miss the first 6 games of the season. The Bears pass rush could suffer without McPhee early.
Detroit 53 Man Roster
Detroit made their cuts to 53. They are keeping only 2 QBs (cut 6th round pick Jake Rudock) and only 4 WRS (cut TJ Jones). Cooter never activated 5 WRs last season and Detroit has a versatile top 4. Riddick and Ebron could see a lot of slot time too.
Michael Ola was cut due to injury as well which hurts the Lions tackle depth. Corey Robinson and Cornelius Lucas will be the backup tackles. However, Reiff could fill in for Decker if he gets hurt while putting Lucas at left tackle. Rookies Graham Glasgow and Joe Dahl will be the versatile backups on the interior.
Detroit kept shockingly 11 defensive linemen but cut Mayhew draft picks Carraun Reid (5th round 2014) and Gabe Wright (4th round 2015, giving up 2016 3rd rounder). Wright was picked up by Cleveland practice squad and Reid went to the Chargers on the roster. Reid was the second defensive tackle after Walker’s injury last year which shows just how much Detroit added at DT this offseason.
Stefan Charles, rookie A’Shawn Robinson, Kyhri Thornton, Kerry Hyder, Anthony Zettel, Brandon Copeland and Wallace Gilberry will be the backups for Detroit on the defensive line. Copeland has good special team ability as well.
Detroit lost top backup LB Josh Bynes to IR and 5th LB Jon Bostic is also still hurt but not on IR yet. The Lions depth is hurting at linebacker. The Lions claimed Jaguars LB Thurston Armbrister to be a backup LB along with rookie 5th round pick Antwione Williams.
The Lions kept 6 cornerbacks including a surprise move keeping Adarius Barnes (undrafted) over 2015 3rd round pick Alex Cater and veteran Darrin Walls. Johnson Bademosi will be the top backup CB but is more of a special team player in the past. Detroit could be very thin at CB if Bademosi and Barnes don’t step up if needed. The Lions kept five safeties including special team ace Don Carey, rookie Mile Killebrew and Rafael Bush. Glover Quin and Tavon Wilson will be the starters.
Real Football Is Upon Us
The NFL season starts on Thursday night when Carolina travels to Denver for a Super Bowl rematch. FYS, aka me, will preview the Vikings at Titans, Bears at Texans, Packers at Jaguars and Lions at Colts games this week. Enjoy real football!!