Colts Roster Cuts: Colts Cut 11, Including Qua Cox

With roster cutdowns to 75 players due by Tuesday, many NFL teams are going ahead and cutting players today (if not earlier).  That's certainly true of the Colts, who this morning released 11 players.

Here's the list of the players cut:

CB Johnny Adams

CB Qua Cox

G Andre Cureton

G Marcus Hall

CB Kameron Jackson

WR Nu'Keese Richardson

LB Jonathon Sharpe

S David Sims

WR Eric Thomas

WR Tony Washington

FB Cameron White

There's no real big surprises on this list, and actually many of them I predicted to be among the first 15 cut.  The Colts cut three each of wide receivers and cornerbacks, two offensive linemen, one linebacker, one safety, and one fullback. Their roster currently has been cutdown from 90 to 79 players.  They've still got a ways to go, however - by tomorrow afternoon, the Colts will need to cut four players to get down to 75, and by Saturday they need to be down to 53 - the number of players their roster stays at all season long.

We'll have updated analysis on these moves as the day goes on.

ANALYSIS:

Here are some thoughts on the Colts first round of cuts:

• Looking back on it, it seems really dumb of me to put cornerback Qua Cox on the 53-man roster in my pre-training camp roster predictions, but that's exactly what I did.  Yeah, ok, I missed that one.  But that's the hard part about predicting a roster before we've even seen those guys on the field.  The Colts loved Qua Cox in the offseason workouts and they thought very highly of him.  For whatever reason, however, when it got to training camp and preseason, he just disappeared.  At best, he didn't do anything, and at worst, well, he gave up a pass interference and game-winning touchdown on back-to-back plays vs. the Giants.  There was no surprise that Cox was among the first cut once we actually saw him on the field.
• The Colts cut three wide receivers - Eric Thomas, Tony Washington, and Nu'Keese Richardson.  Thomas had his moments in camp, and Washington did too (though also having some bad moments).  Richardson has the potential but never really got a shot with the Colts.  Basically, the bottom line with the wide receiver position is that there's absolutely no room for an undrafted guy to make the team.  They're just there for preseason.  The final two undrafted receivers on the Colts roster, however, are Ryan Lankford and Josh Lenz (who caught a touchdown pass on Saturday).
• The Colts just signed Andre Cureton last week, and now they cut him.  That's just life in the NFL.  Nu'Keese Richardson was just cut by the Colts for the second time in a short period.
• A guy that was cut that was no surprise but that I was still a bit disappointed about was Cameron White, the fullback.  Basically, I haven't been impressed with Mario Harvey.  On my most recent roster prediction, published yesterday, I had the Colts going without a fullback until Stanley Havili returns.  I know, that's probably more of a hope on my part than an actual expectation, but I just haven't been impressed enough with Harvey to just give him a roster spot - unless the Colts need to carry a fullback and Harvey is the winner by default for that position.  That's likely what will happen, but I would have liked to see Cam White get a more legitimate chance with Harvey struggling.  He didn't, however, and him being cut is no surprise.