Let's just slip right into this before the Red Bull wears off:
QB: Hasselbeck, S. Wallace, Greene. Bank it.
RB: Alexander, Morris. Scobey's listed as an RB as well, but you'll never see him doing anything but returns.
FB: Strong, Josh Parry. We got Parry, in exchange for a 2008 draft choice, from Philadelphia sometime today. Leonard Weaver was put on injured reserve. Parry started at fullback 11 games last season, and 4 the season before that. He was the Eagles' starting fullback in Super Bowl XXXIX.
WR: Jackson, Burleson, Engram, Hackett, Mann. Peter Warrick's contract was terminated, and Maurice Mann gets his big chance. Unless a deal for Deion Branch is somehow worked out. I would strongly suggest not holding your breath on that one. You need your breath. (Although the story simply will not die. And, admittedly, this does seem to be an unusually light load of receivers, especially with two tight ends banged up at the moment. Well, all right -- those of you not on respirators can go ahead and hold your breath if you want to. I opt otherwise.)
TE: Stevens, Mili, Heller. Mili still shooting to start in Detroit, but Heller might get the call. Although he's nowhere close to an offensive threat yet, he did just enough to warrant a chance. He did catch a mighty fine pass against San Diego -- I believe the longest Seahawk reception of that evening.
OL: Tobeck, Gray, Spencer, Sims, Ashworth, Jones, Willis, Locklear, Womack. No surprises, and no complaints.
DL: Tapp, Tafoya, Tubbs, Darby, Cooper, Terrill, Fisher, Davis, Wistrom, Bernard. See above.
DB: Jennings, Trufant, Hamlin, Babineaux, Boulware, Herndon, Celestin. Jimmy Williams is also listed, but he too will be only seen on punt returns.
LB: Peterson, Tatupu, Koutouvides, Lewis, Hill, Bentley, Kacyvenski. Julian, Lofa and Leroy as our starting linebackers. You might want to move away from your keyboard in case you start salivating.
ST: Plackemeier, Brown, Darche, Scobey, Williams. Darche, in case you're wondering, is slated to be the long snapper. His first name is "Jean-Phillipe," so you'd best keep your girlfriend away from him.
Placed on injured reserve: Weaver, S Mike Green, DE Kemp Rasmussen. Along with Warrick, TE Matt Murphy's veteran contract was terminated.
Other cuts from other teams that grabbed my attention this afternoon:
- Oakland cut QB Jeff George.
- Detroit cut WR Charles Rogers.
- Miami cut QB Marcus Vick.
- Houston cut RB Antowain Smith.
- Cleveland cut RB Lee Suggs.
- Denver cut RB Ron Dayne, and WR Darius Watts.
- Green Bay cut RB Najeh Davenport.
- San Francisco cut punter Tom Rouen. Darn the luck, Tom.
- San Diego cut QB Brett Elliott, which is interesting only in that it leaves the Chargers with only two quarterbacks, Philip Rivers and Charlie Whitehurst.
And, finally, the Bumbershoot Day 1 recap: The Gossip was fantastic, Blondie's Debbie Harry seemed a little disoriented (and wore a day-glo lime green pantsuit, complete with hat), and Of Montreal did a great cover of "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley. And the girls' roller-derby tournament was the hottest ticket. There were no reported elephant-ear injuries.
Update [2006-9-3 13:41:1 by Shrug]: The (very well-known and normally authoritative) source from which I got the roster cuts from the Detroit Lions was incorrect -- Charles Rogers was cut, not Roy Williams.
To restate: This was an error from the original source, not "Field Gulls." "Field Gulls" is perfect. If you don't believe that "Field Gulls" is 100% accurate then you're morally confused.