Gregg Rosenthal says that two former Chiefs greats could be among this year’s surprise cuts coming out of training camps in Denver and Jacksonville.
Given that it’s the beginning of NFL training camps coast to coast, competition is at an annual high as 90 players compete to one of the final 53 lucky members of an NFL active roster. The resulting releases on the transaction wire are not only great in quantity but sometimes quality as well as teams make difficult choices to move on from some players who might be replaced for the sake of finances or age or scheme fit. Many times those cuts are surprising, which makes this time of year tense for players and interesting for fans.
It’s a common occurrence, then, to see various NFL writers attempt to predict the surprise cuts that each team could make. Even here at Arrowhead Addict, we recently posted our own predictions for surprise cuts for the Chiefs from several staff writers. Gregg Rosenthal has done the same with a quick look around the NFL and came up with a couple names in the form of former Chiefs veterans who are now with other teams in the AFC.
First, he identifies former Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles as someone who might not make it to the final roster in Denver, despite the Broncos issues at the position. C.J. Anderson was injured last year and even then wasn’t overly impressive. The Broncos had Devontae Booker as his primary competition last year and the sophomore recently fractured his wrist. That leaves Charles and De’Angelo Henderson to fight it out.
Unfortunately for Charles, despite being recently cleared to practice in full with the Broncos, he’s still nurturing serious knee concerns. Rosenthal does a good job breaking down the competing scenarios here.
"The contract says the Broncos don’t know if Charles can still play, because no one knows if Charles can still play. Everything is on the table here. It won’t be shocking if Charles turns Denver’s deal into the bargain of the offseason, because he’s a legend, and that’s the type of thing legends do. It also won’t be surprising if Charles’ knees, which prevented him from working in team drills this offseason, cut short a career with brilliant peaks."
Branden Albert feels like the opposite sort of scenario. Rather than posing him as a hopeful veteran who could add so much if he’s capable, Albert is still in fine form. While it’s clear that Albert is no longer in his prime, many teams in the league would be better off with Albert as their starting left tackle and the Jacksonville Jaguars were smart to flip a low-level draft pick for the rights to Albert.
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Unfortunately Albert has been selfish from day one. Despite saying all the right things at the time of the trade, he was incommunicado for OTAs and might end up being more of a problem than a veteran leader along the line.
"At some point after the Jaguars drafted Cam Robinson No. 34 overall, Albert realized he didn’t have as much leverage as he thought. It’s worth wondering if Albert realized it too late. He showed up to mandatory minicamp after skipping OTAs and giving Robinson a head start in the battle for the left tackle job. It’s not like the Jaguars have much invested in Albert. Due $8.875 million coming off a down year plagued by injuries, Albert was acquired in a trade for only a seventh-round pick. His status could be out of his hands. If Robinson looks ready to go, another trade of Albert isn’t out of the question."
Albert is still going to outplay anyone brought in by the Jags this season, but it might be worth giving Robinson the starter’s reps for the sake of a brighter future (and sunnier present). Some teams can handle the sort of distraction of a selfish player. Are the Jaguars one such team?
It will be interesting to follow both cases throughout training camp, especially to see if Charles can resurrect his career and perhaps even give himself a bit more ammunition for a potential Hall of Fame induction down the road.
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