The Baltimore Ravens will make their first official round of cuts tomorrow to get down to the NFL requirement of 75 players on their rosters. The team should be cutting around five players and I have been looking at the current roster to see who I think will be the ones to get their pink slips. No one wants to see their name in print in this type of story, so I apologize if I get it wrong, but also if I happen to get it right as well.
The guy who brings the players into Head Coach John Harbaugh's office is known as "The Turk." Not too sure why or even how they got that name, but no one wants to hear the words, "Coach wants to see you and bring your playbook."
Unfortunately, those guys getting cut on September 1st certainly knew their time was coming to the end with the team as the Ravens will have to make much deeper cuts on September 5th, as all NFL teams must be down to their opening day roster of 53 players by 5pm on Saturday. When the final round of cuts are announced, there are sure to be some surprising names among them and some very disappointed players will leave the team. Hopefully, some of those guys will be re-signed to the Practice Squad and perhaps the team will even add a new player of two after cuts are made around the league.
Some of the former Ravens may find new homes with other teams, as our linebackers will be coveted by many teams due to the fact that we have a glut in that position and will most likely release players who could just as easily start for other teams in the league.
There is a chance that the team may try to protect a couple of guys by placing them on our Injured Reserve (IR) List, which means they will not be able to play the entire 2009 season, but will be protected by the team. Their salaries will count against our cap and they will be paid, but will just have to sit on the sidelines all season and get their chance again when the 2010 season comes around.
On BaltimoreRavens.com, I count 82 players on the roster, but that includes the retired Willie Anderson. However, Anderson hasn't officially retuired by sending in his paperwork to the NFL Offices, so he is still on our roster. If we are hoping for some reason that he comes out of retirement to add additional depth to this offensive line, then I will keep him on my list of 75 players - for now.
The guys I am looking for the Ravens to release tomorrow are: WR's Thomas White and Bradon Godfrey, DT Nader Abdallah, LB Tony Fein, QB Drew Willy and CB K.J. Gerard. This list has six players and if they only cut five, then perhaps I'd take Gerard off of the list, but if they cut as many as seven players, I might add Willie Anderson to that group. Either way, perhaps a surprise tomorrow but nothing that should affect this team which has looked so good this far into pre-season.
POST PUBLICATION NOTE: The Ravens made three cuts this morning and they were WR Bradon Godfrey, QB Drew Willy and WR Biren Ealy. Pretty close picks by me. Two more coming by tomorrow. See comments for link (Thanks adh!).