GREG JACKSONSAN ANTONIO, TX
Why cut down to 75 before the last preseason game? Why not wait until after the final preseason game and just cut from 90 to 53?
David: I asked Jason Garrett the same thing on Monday, and he said he thinks the rationale is that the NFL wants those early cuts to have a chance with another team before the rosters are finalized. That's a tough ask, though – to have a released player sign somewhere new on Tuesday or Wednesday and play on Thursday. I don't really see the point, and I bet if you asked most NFL coaches – off the record, of course – they'd tell you they'd prefer to do all their cuts at once.
Nick: If you remember, the league has already reduced the number of cut days from three to two. A while back, it went from 75 to 60, down to 53. But as David mentioned, the league has its reasons for doing it this way. I think they want to expose as many players as possible. If every team put 37 players on the waiver wire at once, it'd be pretty tough to evaluate them all. But I get your point. It doesn't make a ton of sense to do it this way.
* JAMES JORDANCONVERSE, TX*
Do you think Dallas should try to use one of their many tight ends as trade bait?
David: If they're going to make a trade this week, then tight end is certainly a plausible position. James Hanna and Gavin Escobar are both good players, and Geoff Swaim has looked good enough that they could probably get away with dealing one of them. But I wouldn't count on it. Hanna has fantastic value as a blocker, and he is in a contract year, while I think the coaching staff is simply too intrigued by Escobar's potential to let him go. I expect to see four tight ends on the 53-man roster when it's all said and done.[embeddedad0]
Nick: I don't think they should do that. I don't see a team really trying to trade for James Hanna, who has been injured. And right now, it appears as if Escobar has a solid role with this team, especially considering there isn't much depth at receiver. When this team moves to a four-wide look, it'll probably be Escobar split out before Devin Street or Lucky Whitehead. Yes, Swaim looks pretty good at times but I don't think this position is so deep – and talented – where you can get much in a trade.
