NFL franchises tell us a lot when they cut their roster down to 53. Where do they feel like they have good depth, where do they feel like they're thin, which players surprisingly made an impact in camp, which players missed out on opportunities they could have been granted and more. With that in mind, these are the top takeaways from this series of preseason roster cuts.
Anthony Richardson requested a trade out of Indianapolis earlier this offseason, but none ever came to fruition. The Colts granted permission for Richardson to seek said trade, but general manager Chris Ballard said they wouldn't deal him without a significant return on investment. That compensation apparently never materialized, and Indy held onto Richardson.
Richardson completed 21 of his 33 pass attempts for 249 yards, no touchdowns and an interception during his preseason appearances, while also rushing 10 times for 68 yards and a score. He looked more comfortable in the pocket than he had during his time as the starter, but it still looks like he's going to be the team's third quarterback behind Daniel Jones and Riley Leonard for now. Perhaps if some other team loses a quarterback in the final days before the start of the season, then he gets his trade, but otherwise, he'll be sticking it out for the final year of his rookie contract.
McCarthy, meanwhile, was in a quarterback "competition" with Kyler Murray at the start of training camp, but that was put to bed fairly quickly as the Vikes named Murray the starter early on. McCarthy reportedly struggled throughout camp, and he wasn't much better during the preseason games, completing just 9 of 17 passes for 115 scoreless yards. He also notably missed a wide-open receiver in the end zone.
The Vikings reportedly looked into trades for McCarthy in the final days leading into cutdown weekend, but couldn't find one that was agreeable. Given how poorly he played during his lone season as the starter and apparently during camp, that's probably not surprising. What is more surprising is that Minnesota kept him around rather than merely cutting its losses, but it would have incurred a $9.7 million dead cap charge to cut ties ($3.8 million more than if they kept him), which is probably why he stuck on the roster.
Typically, NFL teams keep two or maybe three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster. You can only use so many roster spots at the position before you star having to go thin elsewhere, and since only one quarterback can be on the field at a time, most teams choose to go thin there rather than elsewhere. Five teams this year swung WAY in the opposite direction.
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