I'm going to make my final prediction for the 53-man roster sometime on Friday, after the last preseason game in New England on Thursday night. This is a dry run for my last prediction of that final 53 (I've done it 5 times so far; call this one version 5.1, with the one on Friday being my sixth & final official guess at the 53-man roster that will be finalized by 6 pm ET on Saturday, August 31st).
Taking the Stevie Brown injury into account, as of now, these are the 53 players that I think the Giants would start the season with in Dallas:
QB (3) - Eli, Carr, & Nassib.
RB (4) - Wilson, A. Brown, Cox, & *D. Scott.
FB (1) - Hynoski
TE/H-Back (4) - Myers, Pascoe, Robinson, & Donnell.
WR (5) - Nicks, Cruz, Randle, Murphy, & Jernigan.
OL (9) - Beatty, Boothe, Baas, Snee, Pugh, Diehl, Brewer, Mosley, & Cordle.
Specialists (3) - Josh Brown at K, Weatherford at P, & DeOssie at LS.
DL (9)
*4 DEs - JPP, Tuck, Kiwi, Moore
*5 DTs - Joseph, Jenkins, Rogers, Hankins, & **Austin.
LB (6) - Paysinger, Connor, Rivers, Williams, Herzlich, & Bosworth.
S (4) - Rolle, Mundy, ***Sash, & Taylor
CB (5) - Amukamara, Webster, Hosley, Ross, & Thomas
* I think Da'Rel Scott gets waived if the Giants find a 4th RB on the waiver wire, or as a FA that they think can do more than him (which shouldn't be hard to find).
** I think Austin might be vulnerable to getting waived while Kuhn is on the PUP List. Kuhn can return to the roster between week 7 and week 10, or the Giants can IR him during that time for the entirety of the season. Absent injuries & Austin performing and progressing well in practice and in games, I'd opt to keep Kuhn on IR the whole year.
*** I think Sash is a placeholder for Will Hill, who is eligible to return from his 4-game suspension in week 5. All things being equal (no injuries at Safety or elsewhere), I think the Giants waive Sash in order to place Hill back on to the 53-man roster for week 5.
Noteable Cuts include:
QB - Curtis Painter
RB - Ryan Torrain
WR - Ramses Barden
OL - Eric Herman
DE - Adrian Tracy, Justin Trattou, Adewale Ojomo
DT - Mike Patterson
CB - Trumaine McBride
*The Dead Money in this scenario would belong to 3 players: Barden, Ojomo, and Herman.
*The total Dead Money amount would be $121,952.
*It would be spread out over 2 years.
*$79,488 would count in 2013, & $42,464 would count in 2014.
- Ramses Barden's Dead money amount of $65,000 will only count for 2013.
- Adewale Ojomo's Dead money amount will be spread out over two years:
- $500 in 2013 and
- $500 in 2014
- Eric Herman's Dead money amount would be spread out over two years:
- $13,988 in 2013 and
- $41,964 in 2014
*****
PUP List (1):
- Markus Kuhn (By all accounts he should be healthy enough to come back this year, but whether they IR him or add him to the 53-man roster depends on Austin's progress. Kuhn would be eligible to come off of the PUP List starting in week #7).
- I've got JPP starting the year on the 53-man roster even though he's on the PUP List now based on what Reese has said about him. Even if he's inactive for a game or two, he should be ok to play in the first 6 games of the season, saving the Giants salary cap space.
Injured Reserve (1):
- Sadly, this is Stevie Brown's slot. Wish him a full and speedy recovery. Hopefully, nobody else will be added to this list.
Suspension List (1):
- Will Hill is the only one who is still on the 75-man roster at this point who is suspended to start the season (4 games). WR Brandon Collins was released today, and will still have to serve his 4-game suspension to start the season, only now it won't be as a Giant. Collins is probably going to clear waivers, and then may or may not be added to the Practice Squad here or elsewhere depending on the situation at the time he is eligible to return in week 5 of the regular season.
- Hill, on the other hand, looks like he's going to be needed now, as a result of the Stevie Brown injury. He might even be the the 3rd safety when he's back. I think Sash is a placeholder for Hill until he's eligible to return, and then Sash will get waived by the team to make room for him (barring an unforeseen injury of course).
Injuries are going to play a role in this every day until final cut-down day, 6 days from now. I'll adjust my short list based on news I read from beat reporters who have full-time access to practice until the end of the preseason. After the preseason is over, they'll revert to only having part-time access (regular season rules). I'll have my final guess (6th) at the roster on Friday, August 30th either in the morning, or by the afternoon, the day after the Giants play their final preseason game against the Patriots up in Foxborough. It'll be fun to play the final roster guessing game until then.
