This week was hard in the NFL preseason as the teams made their cuts to get down to the 53 man roster. This will not be the final roster as some teams will be looking at other team cuts to see if someone could fit on their team. Every year at this time a big star or three gets the axe from a team. This summer it’s Cam Newton of the New England Patriots. In his glory days with the Carolina Cougars, Cam was big, strong, and confident. He took the Cougars to the Super Bowl. He was an all pro player and all star pro bowler. However, these last several years, he suffered injuries and disagreements with the front office. In 2020 he parted ways with Carolina and moved to New England. The Pats had let Tom Brady walk and were in need of a starting quarterback. Somewhat reluctantly they signed Newton more as a stop-gap than a permanent solution to the problem. Newton and the Patriots just couldn’t come together. His relationship with Bill Belichick was rocky at best. The Pats also became a running team. In this year’s draft the Patriots selected Mac Jones of Alabama with the 15th pick of the first round. Jones is 6 ft. 3 in. and 217 pounds from Jacksonville Fla. Basically Jones took hold of the starting quarterback’s job and didn’t let go. So now Cam Newton is looking for work. He most likely will get picked up by a desperate team as the season unfolds.
As to the Colts roster, after spending time in training camp, Carson Wentz is now in the COVID-19 list. He is joined by Zack Pasca, Ryan Kelly, and Eric Fisher. All four of these players have key roles in the offense. Sam Tevi was to fill in at left offensive tackle, until Fisher was ready sustained a season ending injury to his leg. The Colts are back to square one on the offensive line. Sam Ehlinger suffered a knee sprain in the last pre-season game and could be out up to five weeks so the Colts will have to address that situation.
As far as the Colts cut down went, there were no significant names on the list, but as I said don’t be surprised if some new names are added to the roster as the season progresses.