The roster cuts followed a 23-6 preseason victory over the Jets, bringing the team down to 83 players as head coach John Harbaugh shapes his first squad in East Rutherford.
As the New York Giants and the rest of the NFL navigate the final roster cuts, roughly 1,184 players league-wide face the end of their training camp journeys. Childhood dreams will be realized and dashed this weekend as the New York Giants and the rest of the NFL move closer to the games that count with the unenviable task of sending hopefuls home. With clubs going from 90-man rosters to an initial 53-man team, roughly 1,184 players will lose their jobs before Sunday’s cutdown deadline of 6 p.m. Some moves were made Saturday with the rest coming today as the necessary evil takes shape.
Saturday’s Pre-Deadline Cuts Trim Giants Roster to 83
The Giants got a jump on Sunday’s final cutdown deadline, releasing eight players on Saturday afternoon. Defensive tackle Leki Fotu, wide receivers Isaiah Hodgins and Kobe Prentice, tight end Josiah Deguara, linebacker Anfernee Orji, cornerback Ugo Amadi, offensive lineman Brenden Jaimes and running back Damon Bankston were all cut Saturday. The Giants’ roster now sits at 83 players ahead of Sunday’s 6 p.m. ET deadline to set their 53-man roster.
None of Saturday’s cuts was particularly surprising. Prentice had only been signed earlier this week when Calvin Austin III was placed on injured reserve, and Hodgins was made redundant by general manager Joe Schoen’s revamping of the wide receiver room this offseason. Hodgins had 10 catches for 115 yards and a touchdown in seven games last season. Bankston, an undrafted free agent, ran for 62 yards on 11 carries in the Giants’ 23-6 win over the Jets on Friday, but he was fighting an uphill battle after the team signed Najee Harris last week. Like Prentice, Jaimes had only been added as an injury replacement, signed when center John Michael Schmitz sustained a concussion during training camp. Fotu was perhaps the most surprising release, but with the Giants running a 3-4 defense, drafting Bobby Jamison-Travis and moving Chauncey Golston inside, the 6-foot-5, 330-pound interior lineman became expendable.
John Harbaugh Balances Roster Decisions in First New York Season
Saturday’s cuts kick off the dreaded two-day stretch across the league in which hundreds of players will be released. For the Giants, the most surprising non-release was kicker Ben Sauls, since coach John Harbaugh confirmed Dominic Zvada won the kicker job Friday night. Expect Sauls to be among the first names released Sunday. Projecting the Giants’ roster this year will be tricky, since it’s Harbaugh’s first season as head coach. Only a handful of players are safe bets, since Harbaugh has drafted just this year’s rookie class himself.
[Late Giants Hall of Fame owner] Wellington Mara famously said, ‘Once a Giant, always a Giant,’ [and] I think that holds true as well. You become part of the team, part of the organization, part of the fabric of what it means to be a Giant, and I do think that those guys, they treasure it. … How many of us that played football wouldn’t have loved to have had an opportunity to be in a football camp in the National Football League? To be invited, to get a try out even? All the not-so-good players like me would have loved that, and I tell these guys, ‘You are the very best. Every single player here in this room is a great football player.’
John Harbaugh, Giants coach
Wide receiver Malachi Fields has looked like the Giants’ WR2 opposite No. 1 wideout Malik Nabers, with Darnell Mooney and perhaps Odell Beckham Jr. rounding out the receiving corps. If the choice comes down to Beckham or Slayton, releasing Slayton would leave the Giants with a $12.7 million dead cap hit. But if the Giants trade Slayton before Sunday evening, they could save almost $13 million in cap space.
Waiver Claims and Practice Squad Timeline
NFL clubs must cut down to their initial 53-man roster by 6 p.m. ET on Sunday, paring down from the current limit of 90. The claiming period for players placed on waivers at the roster reduction will expire at 1 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 31. The Giants are fifth in the claiming order. Teams can then establish a practice squad of 17 players, as long as one player qualifies and is designated as an international player. The Giants open the regular season at home on Sept. 13 in a Sunday night game against the Dallas Cowboys.
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