As teams around the NFL begin to cut players ahead of the 1:00 pm PT deadline on Tuesday, there are going to be some surprises around the league. This is always a difficult time each season as 37 players from 32 different teams are going to be released.
Of course, many of them will still find their way to a practice squad but for others, this will be the end of the road. Looking at our projected 53-man roster for the Los Angeles Chargers, there are going to be some difficult decisions to make.
Based on those projections, these will be the toughest players to cut. Again, these are only projections. To this point, the team has made no official cuts but when news of those starts to come in, we will have that over on our live tracker.
Los Angeles Chargers toughest projected roster cuts
Brenden Rice, Wide Receiver
It has to be difficult to let go of a talent like Brenden Rice, the son of Jerry Rice, especially when the Chargers seemed to get a steal when he was selected in the seventh round of the draft. But it doesn't look like there will be any room for him at wide receiver after the preseason performance of Simi Fehoko, who is great on special teams.
If the Chargers keep six wide receivers, is there any chance they cut one of these players instead of Rice?
- Joshua Palmer
- Ladd McConkey
- D.J. Chark
- Quentin Johnston
- Derius Davis
- Simi Fehoko
It certainly seems unlikely. This is also a tough cut to make because he almost certainly won't clear waivers in order to be brought back to the practice squad.
Donald Parham, Tight End
Donald Parham has spent the past four seasons in Los Angeles and at 6-foot-8, is a great redzone target in the passing game. But this new coaching regime values blocking from its tight ends and Parham has not done that as well as others.
You could make the argument to keep him, but there is a good chance he's off the team this year.
JT Woods, Defensive back
Many people will still have JT Woods making the team but he has just floundered to this point in the NFL. He was willing to switch positions this summer as the team tested him at cornerback so there could be room for growth but keeping him over a veteran like Tony Jefferson, who had one of the best games anyone had this preseason against Dallas, could be risky.
Woods is eight years younger than Jefferson but if you gave Jefferson a chance to come out of retirement to show if he still had it, he showed that. It would make little sense to cut him in favor of a guy who may just be a bad draft pick in Woods.
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