This is a nervous, difficult time for players all around the NFL. Teams have until 4 p.m. ET on Saturday to trim their rosters from 75 players to the regular-season limit of 53. That means a lot of guys could see their careers, or their dreams of having NFL careers, come to an end in the next couple of days.
New York Giants’ offensive lineman Emmett Cleary has been through this before. He began his NFL career as an undrafted free agent with the Indianapolis Colts in 2013. He has been cut by the Colts, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Oakland Raiders, Cincinnati Bengals and last year by the Giants. He spent last season on the Giants’ practice squad and was elevated to the active roster at the end of the season. In all that time, the Boston College alum has never appeared in a regular-season game.
"At this point you've done everything you wanted to do and everything you could do," Cleary said. "It's nerve-wracking but ideally you've put your best foot forward and it's kinda out of your hands now.”
No matter what happens, Clearly will be up early Saturday watching Boston College play Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland. Kickoff is at 7 a.m. ET.
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Cleary said “it doesn’t serve you” to obsess and try to figure out whether there is a spot for you on the roster.
“What’s done is done,” Cleary said. “You hope you did enough, but it’s not in my hands anymore.”
Wide receiver Tavarres King has been with the Denver Broncos, Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Giants since 2013. In all that time he has played in two regular-season games.
“They (cuts) are always nerve wracking,” King said Thursday night. “You don’t want anyone calling your phone or anything like that. I am just going to kick back, relax and try to take my mind off of everything.”
Center Brett Jones, who spent last season on IR for the Giants with a knee injury, will spend some time over the next couple of days with his dad, who came down from Canada to watch Thursday’s game against the New England Patriots.
"I'm not gonna worry about it,” Jones said. "There's so much that's out of your hands, there's not much to worry about. You've just gotta worry about the things you can control. The days go by a lot easier."
For running back Orleans Darkwa, this is his third straight year on the roster bubble. He was cut by the Miami Dolphins as a rookie, then made the Giants’ roster a season ago.
"I've been in the league three years now and every year is the roster bubble this, roster bubble that,” Darkwa said. “I just mute it all. I put everything in God's hands and just go on with my life."
Use this as your roster cuts tracker throughout the day. We will try to update with any early cuts by the Giants, as well as notable cuts around the league.