Final 53 Cut Down Day

The Jets must make their final cuts by 6pm Saturday night and get their roster down to 53 players.  They made several cuts yesterday; according to Jenny Vrentas on NJ.com:

QB Drew Willy has been waived, but the Jets hope to add him back to their 8-man practice squad, so long as he clears waivers.

WR Scotty McKnight, a seventh-round pick and quarterback Mark Sanchez’s childhood friend, has been cut. Patrick Turner is still on the roster as of now but may not be out of the woods yet.

OL Dennis Landolt, who was on the Jets practice squad during last season, has been cut. He will not be brought back to the practice squad.

LB Joey LaRocque and T Nevin McCaskill will be released, their agent wrote on Twitter.

WRs Michael Campbell, an Edison native and undrafted free agent out of Temple, and Dan DePalma, a Verona native out of West Chester, have been cut, along with T Peter Clifford.

Undrafted free agents Eddie Jones, an OLB out of Texas, and Davon Morgan, a S from Virginia Tech, have been cut. S Byron Landor, undrafted out of Baylor, was also cut. Practice squad could be possible for these players.

DE Lorenzo Washington, who signed a reserve/future contract with the team in January, and blocking TE Keith Zinger, who signed with the team during camp, were released.

RB Chris Jennings will be cut.

According to the Daily News, LB Brashton Satele, OL Zane Taylor and Trevor Canfield have also been cut.

Although rosters are always subject to change, OLB Garrett McIntyre was told tonight the Jets plan to make him part of their 53-man roster.

Here is a discussion thread in the Jet Nation forum that outlines more details and thoughts on the moves so far.  I am a bit shocked that the Jets used a 7th round pick to bring in Scotty McKnight who is the childhood friend of Mark Sanchez.  He never seemed to be in the mix for the WR competition.   Patrick Turner would make a nice 5th wideout, his size alone makes him intriguing.

Two positions that have a high probability of waiver moves are offensive line and quarterback.  The Jets need depth on the offensive line and unless they feel confident they can lure Damien Woody out of retirement if needed, they should strongly consider veteran depth.  Robert Turner is going to be unavailable for approximately the first 5 games of the season.  Turner can actually play Center, Guard and Tackle and they are very thin and depth at those spots is very thin until he returns.

The quarterback situation is interesting due in large part to Greg McElroy’s injury against the Eagles.  Mark Brunell has been hurt all camp, although the Jets say he is now 100%.  If the Jets bring in a veteran backup now and he is on the week one roster, his salary would be guaranteed for the entire season.  What Mike Tannenbaum seems to prefer doing is waiting until week two for those kind of veteran signings and not guarantee the salary and accompanying salary cap hit.

The Jets have some tough decisions ahead of them and we will post the full roster tonight after the 6pm deadline.