NFL Preseason CUT Candidates: Who will not SURVIVE preseason cuts | CBS Sports

Welcome back to HQ presented by Geico. It is time to get more with Geico every year. Pete Prisco stirring up drama in different ways now putting out his list of cut candidates. Players on the brink of getting chopped. We have his list here. As we prepare for the 2024 season. Watch out here. No, this was an idea of our producer, Jack, who wants me to get in more trouble with people. This is exactly. We can blame Jack for a lot of things. We can. Danny Connell and Pete Prisco himself joining us now here on HQ. We are going to start with James Bradberry. So last season he had a terrible season with the Eagles. Was part of the second worst pass defense in the entire league. They now move him to safety. Then he gets hurt during minicamp. So that sidelined him. You just think at this point are we cutting him. Is he out. Does he not have an opportunity here? I think he's going to get cut. I think when you look at their defensive backfield, they added two rookies at corner. They're both going to be on the roster. I think they feel like you move the guy to safety. They're trying to salvage something out of him and they're okay at safety. I don't think he's going to make the team at safety. He's not exactly young. Going to be a great special teams player for you. So I think when you add it all up, I think he's in trouble and I think he's in big trouble. I agree, the two rookies have looked outstanding, two so far in preseason and in camp. So far, so that's like those two draft picks have worked. If there was one that looked like they weren't up to speed, then maybe you'd have a chance. But anytime they ask you to switch positions, it means you're kind of already dancing on thin ice. And that's not like I think some people think that's pretty easy to do. That's not an easy transition to make. So when you combine it with what happened last year, what we saw last season with that secondary and James Bradberry getting toasted time and time again, this felt inevitable that this probably is going to happen. I think they've been trying to shop him too, but the word's kind of out already. So a team's just going to say, you know what? Instead of offering some, you know, draft pick down the road, we'll just wait till he hits the open market and just remind people draft or draft cuts, roster cuts are next Monday. Next week. Yeah. Next week next week okay, going through teams where Pete Prisco is predicting guys who are going to get cut, we got to go to the Vikings possibly being cut. Possibly. Save yourself. I like how we're using this for entertainment. This is where I lived on this cut bubble. It is the worst place to be man. I got to deal with guys like back in the day I would have said Danny Connell, quarterback. This is a good point though, because when it comes to the Vikings and this guy right here drafted in the first round back in 2022, missed most of that season with a lower leg injury. He just had a big game. He had a big big hit 11 tackles. He had a big game and he had to save him. It could save him and that's why I'm kind of very sad about that. And here's the other and here's the other thing too. And here's the other thing too, Danny. And you know, this teams are reluctant to get rid of first round picks. It's hard to cut your your mistake and admit your mistake. So that might save them as well. But you're right. That's exactly what he did. He had a really good game. I watched the tape. He looked like the guy we thought he would look like Lewis. We thought he would look like that coming out of Georgia. He looked like that guy last week. He's been banged up a little bit in his career and it's hurt him. It's set him back. But he also wasn't very good when he was healthy and that was a concern. But you're right, he looked like the old guy last week. It is a preseason game. And you know how we talk about preseason games. But he looked different. It might save him. It still might not. Kevin O'Connell even referenced how happy everybody was for Lewis, seeing that he had that type of game and wondering if that means potentially he could make this roster. You know, it's interesting if they were definitively going to cut him, he probably wouldn't have played. You know, that's what happens. A lot of times teams don't want a player to get hurt. So they might have seen enough already to say, you know what, we're done. We don't want to get him risked to injury. The fact that they're letting him play and play as much as he did, maybe a good sign for Lewis and in worst case scenario, the coaches will tell you all the time if it's not for us, you got to remember who you're playing for on film. So no matter what, I think he'll get picked up somewhere. But this might be that opportunity that he's been needing, sort of a breakout game, even though it isn't the preseason to save his job or they played him to showcase him, maybe hoping to get something back from him. So there's always they always have. They always have angles there. So it seems like a big locker room guy because people were so excited for him to have that big of a game. So that speaks to yeah, because they know he has talent and it hasn't showed up. All right. We're going to talk about someone else that has talent with the Texans. And that's C.J. Stroud. The Texans really making a concerted effort to surround him with some weapons. So just naming off some guys, Dalton Schultz, Damien Pierce, Joe Mixon, Stefon Diggs, Tank Dell, our girl, Jacqueline James. We got questions about Tank Dell afterwards Noah Brown. But potentially on the chopping block you have veteran wide receiver Robert Woods. Yeah. And this one is in large part a age is a factor. There But John Metchie who came back from being very sick and played last year, wasn't the same guy actually starting to look like John Metchie again. And that's big for them. He's younger, he's faster, he's more explosive, and I think it will come down to looking at their group and saying, hey, we have five receivers. If you count Noah Brown and Metchie, we probably don't need to keep Robert Woods, even though he was part of their offense last year and made some timely catches and has been a productive player. I just don't see a spot for him on this roster. I don't either. I mean, this is a deep, wide receiver room that's already there. You're starting to get up there in age. You're wondering if the production matches the salary that you command. As a veteran in the league. So I think this is one where you're probably looking on the outside in, and it's surely a numbers game at this point. And this is where I wonder if a player like Robert Woods, if he does find another, you know, wide receiver room that maybe a little bit more needy or is it truly the back end of his career where you're starting to say, all right, this might be the last opportunity, and if you don't make this squad, is it potentially the end of the road? Let's go to the Super Bowl champs back to back Super Bowl champs the Kansas City Chiefs. We're going to talk about Mecole Hardman. And I would like to preface this. So he was with the Chiefs. Went to the Jets for a little bit. Came back to the Chiefs here. And this is a team that wants all the targets for Patrick Mahomes. You have to apologize though to Taylor Swift. This is the only Chiefs player she has ever named. This was during their Super Bowl ring ceremony. She was up in England. You should know this Danny Swift. We get another year of Michael with the little Crown. Wow. And here you are. I mean, he should have a lifetime contract. Just give him a lifetime deal. Which I feel like this is going to make Pete want to cut him even more. Well, since I sold my Taylor Swift tickets, I guess they can be mad at me for even more. Yeah he did. He made a lot of money. Oh, yeah. He's a smart man. Yeah, yeah, well, I didn't my wife did, and she sold him because I didn't really want to go anyways. But that's a whole nother story. Mecole. Hardman Look, the bottom line is it's a numbers game with him. They have so many different guys. Here's the thing. It might come down to Mecole Hardman and Tony Kadariu. Tony, you got to pick one or the other. And I think they'll lean more to Tony in that scenario because they've added guys who can fly. I mean, Xavier worthy can fly. We saw that last week in the preseason. You know Hollywood Brown, when he's on the field and he's dinged up right now, can fly. So I think when you look at it, I think ultimately the guy who caught the game winning touchdown in the Super Bowl might be on his way out. I think also, you want guys that can fly, but you need guys that are more diverse skill set as well. Like you've got those definitive guys who are, you know, four three burners on the outside. You don't need all of your guys to be that. I mean, sometimes it can help. You need to be able to run routes too and be complete football players. And I also wonder Mecole Hardman getting up there in age if he's quite the flier that he once was and able to get past defenses the way he once was at some point in time. So I agree with you. I think it's a numbers game, and I think Mecole number days are numbered as well. So Taylor Swift, you're all upset about that? I know I'm not. No, not necessarily that like Chiefs do whatever you need to do. I'm upset I wasn't offered the tickets. He made a ton of money on. You wouldn't have paid that price when they got the concert. Was it the one in the one in Miami? Yeah. That was it's coming in October. Oh, it's. Oh, gosh. Okay, before before we go to break here, I do want to three times the amount of money. I do want to ask a question. Swifties the Swifties don't come after me. Please. All right. Before we go to break, I do want to ask a question to Danny because it is a different day and age right now with social media and just the internet not to date you that much, but would you have read or seen an article like this from said Pete Prisco and been upset or frustrated as a player? There is no chance I would have read it because I tried to insulate myself from anything negative or any just commentary on where I was, but I guarantee you somebody would have told me about it, you know? Like, that's what happens. And even now it's almost impossible to do it. And some players could use it as motivation. Some guys like to use it, as you know, to fire them up. Other guys that could crumble. I don't know what. True story. Back in the day, I wrote a list of potential cuts when I was covering the Jaguars of guys who could be cut. Yeah Two days later, one of the guys got cut and the players in the locker room came to me and they said, I got him cut because I put his name on the list. True story. Pete, you're really just ruining it's not true. I had nothing to do with it. Zero. You know that. I apologize to all these players in advance. Yeah, we wish you all part of the business. Everybody gets cut. It's a business. Pete. Prisco, Danny Canal, all part of the business. We appreciate you guys here on HQ. And all of this is going to culminate when the season starts on September 8th. CBS sports has you covered over 100 games i the NFL this seon