Training camps around the NFL opened this week, and the clock is ticking for many hopefuls attempting to catch on with one of the 32 teams.
Teams are mandated to reduce their rosters from 90 players to 53 by 4:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, August 26. Needless to say, there’s a lot of work to be done by the front office and personnel people between now and then.
During his media session on Tuesday, New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen outlined what his team will be doing for the next month.
“Once the preseason starts and there’s other games again, there’s going to be roughly 1,200 to 1,300 players cut that Labor Day weekend,” Schoen told reporters. “So the pro staff does a fabulous job, led by Chris Rossetti, Brandon Brown, Tim McDonnell, Dennis Hickey, and they do a great job canvassing the entire league, and we divvy up the league, and they’re in charge of teams as if they’re the GMs of the team. So whether it’s trade candidates, whether it’s cap casualties, injuries that you’re talking about, we will track all that stuff.”
Schoen is never done forming his roster. Final cuts mean very little to him. He’s made plenty of pickups, adjustments, and changes after cutting his roster down to 53.
“From a roster procurement standpoint, we’re third in the claiming order, so this will be a big preseason for us in terms of when players are released during that time. If the first two teams don’t claim a player, now it comes to us, and we’ve had some success claiming some players since we’ve been here at the, we call it the second draft, that time of year. It’s a busy time of year,” he said.
“It’s a lot of players to work through, a lot of film to watch. We will evaluate that, and then, as Dabs was just talking about, there are injuries, and the roster may look different a week from now just because of injuries. And we made a transaction yesterday with bringing in K’Von Wallace. There are injuries, you’re trying to keep everybody fresh, so you need everybody out there on the field to take the reps.
“We’ve got an emergency list that’s ready to go if a player gets hurt at a certain position. We have workouts during this time; it’s a busy time of year, but it’s fun, it’s great. We’re glad to be back to work and excited for the season.”
The NFL never stops, it seems. After the claiming period, the front office will be working on forming the practice squad, which can be as large as 16 players.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: New York Giants’ Joe Schoen already gearing up for cutdown day
Reporting by John Fennelly, Giants Wire / Giants Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
