Colts Get Roster Down to 75

The first roster cutdowns were due today, and the Indianapolis Colts made three moves to get their number down to 75.  They waived-injured wide receiver Nathan Palmer, placed rookie safety John Boyett on the reserve/non-football injury list, and they placed rookie linebacker Josh McNary on the reserve-military list.

Palmer was injured in Saturday's preseason win and suffered a sprained knee that was going to keep him out 4-6 weeks, per Chuck Pagano.  Injury or not, Palmer was going to be cut anyways and this just means that instead of being waived, he was waived-injured.  If he clears waivers, he will revert to the team's injured reserve.

John Boyett was the Colts' sixth round draft choice out of Oregon this year.  He missed almost all of his senior season due to injuries to both knees after enjoying a very good career for the Ducks and has yet to practice for the Colts while still recovering from the injuries.  He was placed on the NFI list entering training camp and today he was placed on the reserve/NFI list once again, which is not a surprise at all.  Basically, the rules of this list seem to be about the same as the PUP list, except for this list is specifically for players whose injury occurred before he entered the NFL.  Although he will be eligible to be activated after week 6, but don't expect him to be on the field at all this season.  That would be a major surprise, and his season this year will be very similar to Josh Chapman's last year - and remember, Chapman didn't play at all.

Josh McNary was signed by the Colts as a free agent this past spring.  He played his college career at Army, where he was a tremendous player, notching 195 tackles, 49 tackles for loss, 28 sacks, 9 passes defended, 5 forced fumbles and 3 fumble recoveries.  Due to his service commitment to Army, as he was commissioned as an officer, he was not eligible for the 2011 NFL draft and fulfilled his service to our military.  The Colts kept waiting for him to be released from the army and report to training camp this season, and a few days into camp he finally showed up.  He looked impressive during training camp, but was injured just before the first preseason game and has yet to participate since then.  The reserve/military list is for players who showed up after June 1 and who haven't participated in a preseason game.  McNary fits that designation, and so while on the list he does not count towards the Colts' roster and does not get paid.  According to my understanding, he can be activated at any time.

The Colts' roster is now down to 75, and pretty soon it will be down to 53, as after the fourth and final preseason game (this Thursday against the Cincinnati Bengals) the final roster cuts are due.  These cuts are generally the easy ones.  The really hard ones come in a few days.

Just for the record, here is the list of all of the Colts roster moves made recently to get their roster down from 90 men to 75 men: CB Johnny Adams, CB Allen Chapman, OG Danous Estenor, DT Kellen Heard, K Brandon McManus, RB Davin Meggett, LB C.O. Prime, C Rick Schmeig, S Ashante Williams were all waived.  WR Maurice Williams was waived with an injury settlement, and CB Teddy Williams and WR Nathan Palmer were waived-injured.  OLB Lawrence Sidbury was placed on the team's injured reserve, S John Boyett was placed on the team's reserve/NFI list, and LB Josh McNary was placed on the reserve-military list.