Yes, Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift got engaged on cutdown day. No, that did not change the cut deadline. Here are the winners and losers of the NFL 53-man roster deadline.
Winner: Washington Commanders WR Terry McLaurin
With the final roster coming into focus, the Washington Commanders finally ended their standoff with star receiver Terry McLaurin and signed him to a three-year contract extension. While the contract is “worth up to $96 million,” the exact guarantee mechanisms remain to be seen — but getting this deal done seems to be a win for both sides.
McLaurin gets the payday that he so richly deserves and will cement himself as one of the most beloved players in Commanders’ history. He was the organization’s one bright spot as they suffered through a period of darkness both on and off the field, and losing him just as the team finally got competitive with a star young quarterback would have been tragic.
The on-field ramifications of this contract for the Commanders are pretty cut and dry- they are simply a better team with Terry McLaurin and need him if they want to compete for a Super Bowl. He now gets to enter his 30s with financial security while playing competitive football for a team and fanbase that truly loves him.
Loser: Detroit Lions QB Hendon Hooker
The Hendon Hooker experiment ended in Detroit as a failure with his release on Monday. While Kyle Allen had clearly outplayed him to earn the backup quarterback job, the Lions seem uninterested in even having Hooker on their practice squad, a move that was foreshadowed when Head Coach Dan Campbell suggested that he needed “a change of scenery.”
This is a disappointing result for the third-round quarterback who was at one point getting first-round buzz during the draft process, but he has simply been unable to adjust to the NFL. Now 27, Hooker finds himself in the position of having to find a potential suitor to start over as a practice squad quarterback, likely. His career may not be dead, but it is on life support.
Winner: The Philadelphia Eagles Quarterback Factory
No team values the backup quarterback position as much as the Philadelphia Eagles. They won both of their Super Bowls with quarterbacks that were initially brought in as backups, and they never stop looking for talent, even when they seem to be secure at the position.
They brought in former first-round pick Kenny Pickett to be their backup last year, and then traded him for a fifth-round pick in this past year’s draft. Tanner McKee, a 2023 sixth-round draft pick out of Stanford, impressed in limited action during the last regular season and has firmly cemented himself as their new backup quarterback.
But with a fractured thumb keeping him off the field for now, General Manager Howie Roseman went and traded for Sam Howell, a former starter in Washington and backup for the Seattle Seahawks.
While Howell will likely wind up on the practice squad, he is yet another low-risk acquisition that the Eagles hope to develop. While much of the NFL may be unpredictable, you can always assume that the assembly line at the Philadelphia Quarterback Factory will always be moving.
Loser: New York Jets WR Malachi Corley
The New York Jets were very excited about drafting Malachi Corley in the third round one year ago, and they made sure we knew about it. They released footage of then-General Manager Joe Douglas desperately trying to trade up to select him. They also tweeted out a screenshot of Douglas’ texts with Head Coach Robert Saleh, in which Saleh invoked the Movie Draft Day by including a picture of Corley with the caption “no matter what.”
from Coach Saleh and Joe Douglas’ texts this morning pic.twitter.com/T45org574t
— New York Jets (@nyjets) April 27, 2024
Just one year later, Douglas, Saleh, and Corley are all no longer employed by the New York Jets. He caught just three passes in his rookie season, with his most notable on-field moment being dropping the ball before crossing the goal line to negate a touchdown.
I THINK HE DROPPED IT BEFORE SCORING pic.twitter.com/PQkG990Emq
— Mr Matthew CFB (@MrMatthew_CFB) November 1, 2024
After a disappointing training camp and preseason, the new regime in New York that had no ties to Corley decided to cut bait. While a team will likely be willing to take a chance on a second-year this round pick, this is an unusual and disappointing spot for a day-two player to find himself in this early in his career.
Winner: New Orleans Saints QB Spencer Rattler
I could have made Tyler Shough a loser here, but I decided to stay positive and name Spencer Rattler a winner for earning the Saints’ starting quarterback job. While Shough versus Rattler may have been a depressing competition from the start, the second-year quarterback out of South Carolina outplayed the 26-year-old rookie out of Louisville.
While Rattler immediately slots in as one of the league’s worst Week 1 starters, his arm talent at least provides the Saints’ coaching staff more to work with than they would have had with Shough. And considering Rattler was a fourth-round pick just one year ago, being named a Week 1 starter is as good an opportunity as he could ask for.
Loser: Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Kyle Trask
The Kyle Trask era is over in Tampa. The 2021 second-round pick out of the University of Florida was cut as Teddy Bridgewater claimed the Buccaneers’ backup job. Trask was initially drafted to develop behind Tom Brady as a potential future quarterback.
Still, he lost out in a competition with Baker Mayfield before the 2023 season and has only attempted 11 passes since. Whether there is a place for him on the Tampa practice squad or with another team remains to be seen, but for now, the Bucs appear to be calling it quits on the fifth-year player.
Winner: The Baltimore Ravens’ Scouting Department
The Baltimore Ravens extended one of the most remarkable stretches in football when they kept undrafted safety Reuben Lowery, linebacker Jay Higgins IV, and cornerback Keyon Martin. This marks the 21st time in 22 seasons that the team has kept an undrafted rookie on the 53-man roster. These are just the latest finds of a scouting infrastructure that has previously found undrafted gems such as Patrick Ricard, Priest Holmes, and Michael Pierce.
Their steady play throughout camp earned rave reviews, and Lowery’s shining preseason performance included an interception against the Dallas Cowboys, while Martin returned an interception for a touchdown against Washington.
DEFENSE CAME TO PLAY
Tune in on WBAL! pic.twitter.com/hsG5VuuhFu
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) August 17, 2025
PICK SIX @MartinIsland21 !!!!!!!!!!!!
Tune in on WBAL! pic.twitter.com/3zUShUJGv6
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) August 23, 2025
For a team lacking in secondary depth following Ar’Darius Washington’s torn Achilles, their inclusion on the roster signals a stamp of belief from the coaches that they can immediately play and contribute when necessary.
Loser: Philadelphia Eagles G Kenyon Green
It has been a tough road for the Houston Texans’ 2022 first-round pick, who has spent his entire NFL career either injured or playing as one of the worst guards in football. The Eagles waived Green on Monday, five months after the team acquired him in a trade that sent safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson to Houston.
While failing to crack an NFL squad in year four would be bad for any first-round pick, it is particularly notable that the Eagles gave up on Green. Philadelphia Offensive Line Coach Jeff Stoutland is the best evaluator and developer of offensive line talent in the NFL.
The Eagles are frequently where Offensive Linemen go to revive their careers, with the most recent example being the resurgent play this past season of 2020 first-round pick Mekhi Becton. If Stoutland is giving up on Green, his time in the NFL may be nearing an end.
Winner: Chiefs WR Tyquan Thornton
It had been a tough beginning to the career of the New England Patriots’ former second-round pick out of Baylor, who ran a 4.28-second 40-yard dash. Thornton was never quite able to do anything other than run fast and amassed just 385 receiving yards over two and a half disappointing seasons in New England.
After signing with the Chiefs’ practice squad in the middle of last year, Thornton shone in camp and earned a spot on the 53-man roster. His role remains to be seen, but it is an impressive career revival for a player who seemed to be on his way out of the league.
He now slots in as another short, fast receiver that the Chiefs hope will revive their deep passing game. Shoutout to all the Chiefs beat reporters who have to cover this alongside another small piece of news regarding the most famous person in the world.
Loser: Patriots G Cole Strange
Sean McVay said it all. Three years after the Los Angeles Rams’ Head Coach had a hilarious reaction to Bill Belichick throwing a curveball and selecting Strange with the Patriots’ first-round pick, New England cut bait with the guard out of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Rams reaction to Patriots selection of Cole Strange at #29.
This is hysterical. pic.twitter.com/ADzqt4lizQ
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) April 29, 2022
It was an uphill battle for Strange, who consistently struggled throughout his 29 NFL starts. With a renewed investment in the offensive line to keep franchise Quarterback Drake Maye upright, the Patriots’ brass gave up on Strange’s development. He will now likely look for a practice squad job elsewhere.
