The deadline for NFL teams to reduce their active rosters to 53 players is approaching quickly. By Sunday at 6:00 p.m. ET, we will have a clear picture of the groups each team is planning on starting the 2026 regular season with.
But a lot can happen between now and then. For the New York Giants, there is one more preseason game to be played -- this Friday night at MetLife Stadium versus the Jets -- and a lot of consternation over who is staying and who could be going.
The Giants have a total of 37 decisions to make on players in the next three days. They made two of those decisions already this past week by trading offensive linemen Daniel Faalele and Joshua Ezeudu away for draft picks. Another player move arose when wide receiver Calvin Austin
III went down with a season-ending knee injury in practice on Tuesday.
That hasn't made the Giants' front office's job any easier. Big Blue has been stockpiling talent and depth the past two years and now has a squad they believe can compete for the postseason again.
But with those positive developments comes a downside. They have too many NFL-level players and not enough spots to accommodate them. Some will have to be let go.
"I think there's going to be players that are going to help some other teams," assistant general manager Brandon Brown told reporters about some of the players the Giants will be forced to cut. "Again, Joe's (GM Joe Schoen) done a really good job of entrusting (Director of Player Personnel) Tim McDonnell, (Director of Pro Scouting) Chris Rossetti, myself, and having phone calls with other clubs on where they're maybe light in terms of their needs and where they may be heavy and surpluses.
"And, yeah, there's going to be guys on our roster that are going to help, potentially help other people, but again, we want to keep that as close to the vest in terms of names and positions, but we're aware. We know what the marketplace looks like."
The Giants won't go quietly into Sunday night, however. They will be seeking to find trade partners for some of those players while, on the flip side, anticipating some players other teams might be letting go that can help them. The Giants are fifth on the waiver-preference wire and, if they choose, can snare a couple of players who could be seen as upgrades.
Overall, these will be hectic days. The conversations won't be easy ones, with position coaches and coordinators lobbying Schoen, Brown, and head coach John Harbaugh to keep certain players. Brown has been here before, but this time around, the process will be different.
"You want to have those hard conversations. You want those cutdowns for those, call it, last five spots. You want it to be a constant tug and struggle because that means you have the possibility of a player that can help you, potentially leaving the building," Brown said. "So, you want to figure out the best combination of, and that's where the creativity comes in, and Joe's been really great at figuring out and understanding of, okay, how are we going to go to the game?
"What guy is going to help us in terms of multi-role? If he's a depth player, what's his role on special teams? If he's a depth position player with a limited special teams value, can he get us out of the game at more than one spot? And just constantly churning and having those conversations and then looking back to real examples, okay, did he put it on tape? That's a big thing from Harbs. Hey, we're saying he can do it; let's see it. Did he put it on tape? Was it in the joint practice with Miami? Was it in a preseason game? Let's see it. And then just, one, having comfort and the trust that we have the guys that can, again, give us the most bang for our buck when we get to game day of having value and have a role because everyone's role is going to be different, but can this guy satisfy the role in the way that we need it to be done?"
In essence, Brown whittled the exercise down to five decisions. There will be the starters and their immediate backups. That's 44 players. Add in a punter, kicker, and long snapper and that makes 47. The final six spots are commonly called the "bubble."
There will be players the Giants cut who they will ask to stay ready, as they hope to call them back for the practice squad. That happens on Monday, which will be a brand-new scramble for Brown and his team.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: Brandon Brown: 'Hard conversations' ahead as Giants prepare to trim roster
