It seems like only yesterday that Arizona Cardinals players reported to training camp at State Farm Stadium. However, it was four weeks ago today and in exactly one week by 1 p.m. Arizona time, the current roster will be slashed to 53 players.
Some gut-wrenching decisions will have to be made in the scant hours following the end of Sunday’s preseason game against the Broncos in Denver.
It’s a process that all coaches wish they could avoid, but can’t. And it’s head coach Jonathan Gannon that has to pass along the bad news, although knowing that many will be added to the 17-player practice squad within a few days of the reduction.
“Tough, tough. It is very difficult,” Gannon said Monday. “But the building in there is very open and we have a lot of conversations. It would be probably tougher if I never talked to a guy, but I pretty much talk to these guys a decent amount. They know it comes from a place of love and care and empathy I would think too with those guys. But they understand the business side of it too. But they’re always hard conversations.
“It’s a hard couple days there, honestly. You want to keep all 90 because we’ve got good guys in that locker room. You just know that that’s the business part of NFL football. You can’t keep them all, so that’s always a tough thing, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to do what’s best for the team moving forward and they know that.”
One aspect is that every decision affects another position group. Keeping a third quarterback means one less somewhere else. Will it be four or five running backs? Five or six wide receivers? Special teams ability has a large role in that. Eight or nine offensive linemen? How many defensive backs?
When asked if there is a plan for the number of players in each unit, Gannon said, “You gotta balance. You kinda have an outline of what you think. How we play on all three phases, offense, defense, special teams, obviously. But you don’t have to always stick to that outline. We’re going to try to keep the best football players that we can.”
How is it balanced with those that have obvious roles against players that might need some time to develop? The practice squad can be a place for that, but there’s always the chance of losing a young talent on waivers.
“There’s lot of factors at play, but it all stems back from the first thing is, how are we gonna beat Buffalo?” Gannon said, keeping in mind that 53 players are on the roster but only 46 are active except for two potential practice-squad elevations. “And then there’s a bunch of different factors from there which you gotta weigh when you start making decisions.
“So (general manager) Monti (Ossenfort) does a good job of making sure he keeps the main thing the main thing, but also having some foresight of what’s down the road and what things you have to balance. But we’ll be convicted on who we keep. I know that.”
That is, until more roster moves occur after Aug. 27. After all, there’s no such this as the “final” cut.
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