Commanders Final Cuts: Washington Trims Roster For 2022 Season
Teams all across the league trimmed their final rosters down to 53 Tuesday, let’s take a closer look at who the Commanders decided to let go.
The Washington Commanders Head Coach Ron Rivera entered this week with a full roster of 80 players. Tuesday afternoon he turned in a roster sheet to the league with 53 names on it.
Cutting players is never easy for an NFL coach, this year Washington’s roster is returning several starters, so the battles in camp and the preseason have been more so about depth. For Rivera, this entire process has been about deciding which guys might help two months down the road, and which guys he might be able to stash on the practice squad. It’s like a game of chess played four moves ahead, if done correctly he’ll look like a genius.
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Washington Trims Roster
The last month of training camp and preseason games have built things up to this point, final roster cut day. And with final cuts come both the end of a dream for some and the beginning of another for others. That said, the team cut 25 players, and placed three others on the injured reserve Tuesday.
When asked if he was surprised by any one player who “stuck” on the final roster, Rivera was direct with his response.
“I think there are a couple of young guys that really stepped up. Christian Holmes is one of the guys that comes to mind right away when you get the late-round picks, a lot of the time you try and slide them by and get them on the practice squad. He had a really strong camp, he really did. He did a lot of good things and showed his worth very quickly. I think he is a guy that I’m not going to necessarily say surprised, but a guy that worked, to answer the question, he did work himself onto the roster. That was really good to see. I think when you look at the tight end position, we kept five for a reason. We like all five. We think there is a place for those guys. That is also a position that we are still working through the roster for clarification as far as guy’s statuses.”
The Washington Commanders’ initial 53-man roster pic.twitter.com/baYWdfyPLI — Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) August 30, 2022
Commanders Final Cuts
The full list of players who were cut is below. Among the group, there are quite a few the team will likely look to bring back via the practice squad. Thankfully, the NFL will continue with the practice squad rules used since the beginning of COVID that allow each franchise to carry 16 players without limitations on who can be on the squad.
WR Matt Cole
DT Justin Hamilton
DT Tyler Clark
DE Jacob Panasiuk
TE Jake Hausmann
DB Steven Parker
CB Danny Johnson
CB Corn Elder
OL Wes Martin
LB Khaleke Hudson
DE William Bradley-King
OL Nolan Laufenberg
LB/S Ferrod Gardner
LB Tre Walker
C Jon Toth
WR Kyric McGowan
WR Marken Michel
OL Aaron Monteiro
DE David Bada (If he clears waivers he’ll revert back to the International Player Pathway program)
OT Alex Akingbulu
WR/PR Alex Erickson
RB Jaret Patterson
CB DeJuan Neal
TE Kendall Blanton
RB Reggie Bonnafon
Three Players were placed on Washington’s Injured Reserve. Any player placed on IR before 4:00 pm est is not eligible to return during the 2022 season.
T Willie Beavers
CB Josh Drayden
C Keith Ismael
Among this group, Jaret Patterson, Danny Johnson, Wes Martin, Steven Parker, Corn Elder, Khaleke Hudson, Marken Michel, Alex Erickson, Kendall Blanton, and Jon Toth jump off the page as possible practice squad players.
The team will likely announce who will be on the 16-man practice squad sometime over the next 48 hours.
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