@gumby73 said:

Gotta think that Meder is in, as they cut Kitchen today....and with Taylors untested knee, Id say they'd be foolish to just keep him and Shelton....

They are:

QBs - McCown / Manziel

RBs - Crowell / West / Draughn / D.Johnson / M.Johnson (FB)

WRs - Bowe / Hartline / Gabriel / Benjamin / Hawkins

TE - Barnidge

OT - Thomas / Schwartz

OG - Bitonio / Greco / Erving

C -Mack

DE - D.Bryant / Starks / Cooper / Hughes

DT - Shelton / Taylor

OLB - Kruger / Solomon / Mingo / Orchard / A.Bryant

ILB - Dansby / Robertson / Kirksey

CB - Haden / T.Williams / K.Williams / Desir / Gilbert

S - Whitner / Gipson / Poyer

LS - Hughlett

P - Lee

One spot goes to the winner of the K competetion. That makes 44...

That leaves 9 roster spots for IMHO these 19 players: (I've bolded my picks)

QB Lewis

WR Lenz

WR Mayle

WR Moore

WR Pryor

TE Dray

TE Bibbs

TE Housler

OT McDonald

OG Painter

DE Winn

DE Meder

ILB Carder

ILB Pullard

CB Gaines

CB James

CB Bademosi

CB Nelson

S Campbell

I think Rankin, McDaniel, and the loser of the K battle will be cut by the end of the day today...

@the-gipper said:

Yeah, if he beats out Carder I would not be too surprised.

Zombo

@tour2ma said:

Pullard has looked good when he was in there.

@riffer-x said:

How long has it been since we could say that?

The quality of the players on this team is slowly getting better!

Zombo said:

Don't think they keep Draughn. I also think they keep more than 10 DBs. They will stash the most ready to go OL on the PS but I wouldn't be surprised if Bowie makes the active roster. Doogie looks like the odd man out at TE. They like Malcolm Johnson at FB but Bibbs kind of plays that role too. Might only keep one of them and try stashing the other. The DL is missing Meder and Billy Winn and I don't see them leaving themselves thin there, either.

We are going to be cutting some pretty damn good players no matter what. Don't remember cuts ever being this competetive. I think for sure Pryor has to play Thursday night. I don't think they can justify cutting a really good player for him. Also still wouldn't be surprised if Marlon Moore gets cut. I know they love the guy, but if you are keeping Bademosi, Poyer and Carder for mostly specials, Moore might be the odd guy out. Pullard may beat out Carder too.

I would like to see them pick up Fred Jackson and eventually go with Duke, Crow and FJ. Piss on West (depending how the injuries go the rest of camp).

@texasag1969 said:

I don't know how "risky" it is, Thad has a rating of 81.4 in 6 NFL starts, I don't think we would expect much more from Manziel over the first half of the season.

McCown is completely healthy, I don't like keeping three QBs.

I think if Manziel was healthy, we would have released Thad and hoped he stayed available if someone went down. Two healthy QBs is enough to keep on any roster IMO.

Zombo

Zombo said:

This may sound crazy, but I would almost be willing to put Manziel on that flex IR position where you can bring the guy back midway through the season and just go with McCown and Thad at QB and get another one of the hard-working young guys on the roster.

Crossed my mind as well...

About the only disagreements I have are in the persons of Moore and Bade. Jennings and Gaines seem better position choices and ST replacements can be developed.

Of course if we move Hawk and Gilbert we can keep all four of the above...

@dawg2fan said:

Yes, but that only takes care of one position if we lose Joe Thomas, Alex Mack, or Mitchell Schwartz. What if we lose more than one?

As of now... plug Painter in at RG and move the RG to the opening. Then activate a PS or sign a FA.

The fall off from our #6 to our #7 O-line is significant no mater the #7 we keep off the current roster. I have a feeling that we'll have a waiver wire guy, or a someone plucked off another PS, before the Regular season kicks off.

@canton-dawg said:

This is pretty level-headed. I don't remember ever going with just 7 O-linemen, but I guess it wouldn't shock me if we tried it due to the versatility of Erving.

I don't think the plan was for Thad Lewis to make the team, but Johnny's sore elbow is probably going to cost a valuable roster spot to someone who has earned it (Gaines/Meder). If the guy can't practice how do we make him the sole backup at QB?

I agree that Bibbs has taken Housler's job, I don't feel that Jim Dray is an exciting selection, but you gotta have two good blocking tight ends (Barny and Dray) and these guys will also be called on to block for extra points and FGs if we are light on backup OL.

I think this roster overall shows that special teams is the key to making the roster as depth players (Moore, Carder, Poyer, Bademosi), we may have the best special teams in the league this year if the placekicker is good.

Not crazy about keeping the 4th RB (Draughn), again, would rather see Gaines and Meder over Thad and Draughn, but if Johnson misses more time with a concussion, then we have no choice but to keep another RB as well.

This may sound crazy, but I would almost be willing to put Manziel on that flex IR position where you can bring the guy back midway through the season and just go with McCown and Thad at QB and get another one of the hard-working young guys on the roster.

Zombo

@cambridgeho said:

Yes, but that only takes care of one position if we lose Joe Thomas, Alex Mack, or Mitchell Schwartz. What if we lose more than one?