The Colts cut Marcus Paschal today to get their roster down to 75. After Thursday's pre-season finale against the Bengals, the Colts will have until Saturday to trim their roster to 53 active players. Without considering who will likely get re-signed to the practice squad, I've compiled a list of who will likely get cut on Saturday. Please note that I will cut more than the Colts need to as it is likely they will cut extra players so they can sign some people cut from other teams.
After the jump, you can check out the list. Keep in mind, the Colts have a lot of very good talent on this current 75 man roster. Several good, quality players will get let go. Some may even be high drafts picks from years past.
John Matthews (duh)
Michael Toudouze
Jaimie Thomas
Tom Pestock
Jamie Petrowski
Walter Mendenhall
Tom Santi
Brett McDermott
Taj Smith
Sam Giguere
Chad Simpson
Lance Ball
John Gill
Eric Foster
Josh Thomas
Freddy Keiaho
Ramon Humbler
Nick Graham
Dante Hughes
Travis Key
Shane Andrus
Steve Justice
Daniel Muir
Tim Jennings
Jamie Silva
The big cuts are Muir, Jennings, Hughes, Foster, and Ball. Based on Muir's poor showing last week against Detroit, and the impressive praise Caldwell has given to Adrian Grady, I think the Colts will want to keep Grady, work Terrance Taylor into the nose tackle rotation, and keep someone like Raheem Brock in reserve at under tackle in case of an injury. Foster falls in the same boat as Muir. Antonio Johnson, Ed Johnson, and Terrance Taylor can all play nose tackle. This makes Muir expendable. Ed Johnson, Adrian Grady, Raheem Brock, and Fili Moala can all play under tackle. This makes Foster expendable. Thus, both Foster and Muir are (sadly) cut.
Jerraud Powers has flat outplayed Tim Jennings and Dante Hughes. Caldwell has also been very pleased by the play of Jacob Lacey. T.J. Rushing is a decent corner who is vital to the return game. Thus, Hughes and Jennings are gone.
Finally, there is Lance Ball, who has (in my humble opinion) outplayed the injury-prone Mike Hart. But, I don't think the Colts are ready to give up on Hart just yet. Since they cannot PUP him, and since the Colts will probably keep three QBs, I think Lance will get cut.
Again, I'm likely wrong with these projected cuts, and we don't know what the injury situation will be until after the Cincy game. But, for right now, this is how I think it will shake out. Thoughts?