Every year around this time I make my initial 53-man roster prediction. Sometimes I end up making some big changes before my final one is put out, and other times it stays pretty true to my first.
In this year’s initial, I went 25 on offense and 25 on defense – with the obvious three specials teams slots.
Below are my initial predictions.
Offense: 25
QB: 3
- Jayden Daniels
- Marcus Mariota
- Josh Johnson
RB: 3
- Brian Robinson Jr.
- Austin Ekeler
- Bill Croskey-Merritt
WR: 6
- Terry McLaurin
- Deebo Samuel
- Noah Brown
- Luke McCaffrey
- Jaylin Lane
- K.J. Osborn
TE: 4
- Zach Ertz
- John Bates
- Ben Sinnott
- Colson Yankoff
OL: 9
- Laremy Tunsil
- Brandon Coleman
- Tyler Biadasz
- Andrew Wylie
- Josh Conerly Jr.
- Trent Scott
- Nick Allegretti
- Chris Paul
- Timothy McKay
*Sam Cosmi begins the season on IR
Defense: 25
DL (DT and EDGE): 10
- Daron Payne
- Javon Kinlaw
- Jer’Zhan Newton
- Eddie Goldman
- Deatrich Wise Jr.
- Dorance Armstrong
- Javontae Jean-Baptiste
- Clelin Ferrell
- Von Miller
- Jacob Martin
LB: 5
- Bobby Wagner
- Frankie Luvu
- Jordan Magee
- Kain Medrano
- Nick Bellore
CB: 5
- Marshon Lattimore
- Trey Amos
- Mike Sainristil
- Noah Igbinoghene
- Jonathan Jones
S: 5
- Quan Martin
- Will Harris
- Jeremy Reaves
- Tyler Owens
- Percy Butler
Special Teams: 3
K: 1
P: 1
LS: 1
Notes:
- I was torn between keeping two or three quarterbacks. In this initial prediction, I went with three because of Marcus Mariota’s injury status.
- I went with three running backs because I always feel one can easily be stashed on the practice squad – and, we also have Deebo who can/will line up in the backfield.
- The surprise on the offensive line may be me not keeping Michael Deiter. Frankly, I think he stinks, and I know they are giving both Nick Allegretti and Tim McKay some work at center as well. I think Nick is the guy who steps in if Tyler Biadasz goes down.
- Speaking of McKay – they really like him, and I don’t think they would have made him active if they didn’t plan on him being part of this 53-man roster. They are not going to want to risk subjecting him to waivers to try and stash on the PS.
- DL is a place where we should see a healthy rotation during the season to keep guys fresh. I have us keeping 10 total, but also remember that Frankie Luvu is getting significant work as an EDGE this camp, so I could also see that number dropping to nine if they would rather keep...
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