2017 NFL Final Roster Cuts: Most Notable Names From Saturday’s Releases – T.J. Ward, Victor Cruz, Osweiler

Every year, the NFL has a few dreaded days with Black Monday — the day after the end of the regular season when teams will fire head coaches — being one, and the day of final roster cuts being the other. On Saturday, all 32 teams in the NFL had to get their rosters down to the league-mandated 53 players. That meant a lot of players would be without a job as of Saturday evening, and by the time the deadline rolled around, a lot of big names among those who were released.

Every team had a lot of players to release by 4 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, Sept. 2, and a number of the choices were going to be easy. Others would require a bit more thought and wouldn’t be nearly as simple with which to part ways.

Then, there were those that no one wanted to release, but there was simply no room for them on the roster.

CBS Sports kept track of all the cuts since the end of the final preseason games, and it’s not hard to pick out some of those who will soon have a new place to play. Still, it’s hard to believe that players such as Victor Cruz, Brock Osweiler, and T.J. Ward were let go at all.

Von Miller hoped it was fake news; the Broncos may now have a real problem in the locker room with T.J. Ward gone https://t.co/qpGp6LPhXs

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) September 2, 2017

Veteran safety T.J. Ward was released by the Denver Broncos on Saturday and as reported by Pro Football Talk, the other players were not happy. The three-time Pro Bowl safety was the subject of trade talks earlier this week which makes this move not overly unexpected, but it still isn’t popular.

Looking through the very long list of every player released from every team, here are some of the more notable names that stand out from final roster cuts.

• RB Stevan Ridley – Denver Broncos
• QB Brock Osweiler – Cleveland Browns
• WR Victor Cruz – Chicago Bears
• RB Matt Asiata – Detroit Lions
• C Jeremy Zuttah – Baltimore Ravens
• RB Matt Jones – Washington Redskins
• K Josh Lambo – Los Angeles Chargers
• RB Bobby Rainey – Baltimore Ravens
• QB Garrett Gilbert – Carolina Panthers
• QB Brandon Weeden – Houston Texans
• K Robert Aguayo – Chicago Bears
• QB Josh Johnson – New York Giants
• WR Austin Carr – New England Patriots
• DT Tony McDaniel – New Orleans Saints
• OG Alex Boone – Minnesota Vikings
• RB Chris Johnson – Arizona Cardinals
• QB Kellen Moore – Dallas Cowboys
• DT Ahtyba Rubin – Seattle Seahawks
• S Will Blackmon – Washington Redskins
• QB Matt Barkley – San Francisco 49ers
• TE Will Tye – New York Giants
• OT Eric Winston – Cincinnati Bengals

Bears releasing WR Victor Cruz, per @art_stapleton pic.twitter.com/3ZI7an6ixe

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 1, 2017

Some of these cuts may be hard to believe by the fans, but they are necessary and needed to happen for NFL teams to get their rosters down to 53 players. Many of them will end up landing with other teams and some players are already negotiating for a new contract. On this day, it was good for many players, but it was also a day of dread as some men saw their professional football dreams come to an end.

[Featured Image by Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP Images]