“NFL-Opening Day Rosters”

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The NFL season opens on Thursday with the test of the league kicking off on Sunday.

It has been a record setting off season of player moves, especially in the ranks of the quarterbacks.

New faces, new places.

Pass rusher JJ Watt has left Houston for Arizona.
Longtime LBs KJ Wright-Denzel Perryman are Raiders

Matthew Stafford heads to the Rams as their quarterback.
Jared Goff will try to restart his career with the Lions
Ryan Fitzpatrick tries to take over in Washington.
Carson Wentz moves to Indianapolis.
QB-Andy Dalton will start in Chicago.
Sam Darnold, the former 1st round pick, is no longer a Jet-but in Carolina
Teddy Bridgewater is now the starter in Denver.

And of course there will be the arrival of the rookie QBs, good players going to bad teams.

Trevor Lawrence is the future of the Jaguars..Mac Jones starts in New England…Zach Wilson with the Jets.  We wait to see how long it takes Justin Fields to get on the field in Chicago.  And the same can be said about the 49ers-Trey Lance.

But as the season kicks off, there are surprising names still without contracts, without jobs, for a variety of reasons.

Cam Newton has not been picked up since his release from the Patriots.  Some think his erratic mechanics, his poor productivity (8TDs) last year, and his struggles to learn new playbooks, may be part of all this.  He is also unvaccinated.

Le’Veon Bell, once a superstar with the Steelers, sat out a season, walking away from a 14.6M contract in Pittsburgh.  He signed a lower priced deal with the Jets then washed out with them.  No one has shown any interest in a high maintenance talent who has become an enigma.  From 14M to Zero in two years, quite a fall off.

Aging RBs like Adrian Peterson..Frank Gore..LeSean McCoy and the injured Todd Gurley are also still out there.

At WR-legendary Cardinal Larry Fitzgerald is not signed and looking at retirement.  John Brown, was a surprise release by the Raiders, but still serviceable.  Injuries have robbed  Alshon Jeffrey and Golden Tate of opportunities.  Kenny Stills and Danny Amendola have been reduced to journeyman status.

Josh Gordon’s continued battle with substance abuse has doomed his chances of more invitations to camps

There are virtually no quality OL left, aside from aging vets Russell Okung and Mitchell Schwartz.

Legendary CB-Richard Sherman, his off season marred by an arrest and mental health questions, is unsigned and likely unsignable.

Other guys on the back-end are S-Tre Boston..Ken Vaccaro..Desmond Trufant are unsigned.

Only two recognizable DTs are still out on the street, Geno Atkins and Olivier Vernon are out there, but both have had injury issues..

Linebackers Mychal Kendricks and Bruce Irvin, both who had troubles with the law, are unclaimed too.

A flurry of last minute cuts put kickers out on the street, including longtime veteran Michael Badgley-the ex Charger.

NFL rosters contain 53-active players, but because of the pandemic, the practice squad rosters are now 16-players per team.

Interesting to see who is still out there.  More interesting to understand why some are unsigned.

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