GREAT BLUE NORTH DRAFT REPORT
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2012 CUTDOWN DAY SUMMARY

September 3rd

It hardly science, but how many players from a particular draft actually make their respective team's opening day roster gives some indication of just how strong that draft may have been. And if this is in any way a reasonably accurate measure, then the early returns from the 2012 draft suggest that this year was a relatively strong for selecting players. Overall, 33 players selected at last April's draft were released prior to Friday's deadline for teams to be down to the opening-day 53-man roster limit. In fact, that's the third lowest number of players who draftees who have been released since the NFL went to a 53-man roster behind only 2011 and 2008 when the figures were 30 and 32 respectively. The current figure is also in line in line woth 2010 when 35 players selected that year were released prior to the season, whereas the number was 41 in in 2009. The current figure is also well below those in both 2006 (40) and 2007 (45). At the same time, another 18 rookie draftees this year were placed on either injured reserve or the physically unable to erform list. That figure, though, is slightly higher than recent years.

Not surprisingly, most of the players taken at the this year's draft who were released this weekend were late- round selections. In fact, 30 of the 33 draftees who did not make their team's opening day 53-man roster were taken in either the 6th or 7th rounds, with 18 coming from the final round. At the same time, 3 players selected in the 5th round were cut this weekend including Dallas WR Danny Coale, Seattle LB Korey Toomer and Buffalo LB Tank Carder. Carder, though, was claimed off waivers by Cleveland. In contrast, no one selected in this year's first four rounds was released prior to the start of the season. In fact, only every player selected in the first two rounds was included in their respective team's 53-man roster, while two third rounders - Pittsburgh LB Sean Spence and Chicago DB Brandon Hardin - went on injured reserve.


For the most part, this year's the cuts were spread pretty much across the league as only 4 teams - Arizona, Carolina, Denver, and Jacksonville - neither released nor IRed any of their players taken at the 2012 draft. Another, Baltimore, and Tennessee didn't release any of their draft picks this year, but did place at least one on a reserve list. In contrast, the New York Jets released 3 of its 8 picks as it cut down to the roster deadline and then waived a 4th after after the original 53-man roster had been established. Meanwhile, Dallas, Green Bay, and Philadelphia each released a couple of players take at the 2011 draft, while Buffalo, Chicago, Kansas City, Pittsburgh and San Francisco also each cut two draft picks and placed a third on injured reserve.

The 2012 draft also ofered more hope to players overlooked at the draft as a total of 45 undrafted rookie free agents survived last week's cuts and made a 53-man roster. In addition, several of those were cut prior to the 53-man roster deadline have since been either claimed off waivers or signed by other teams. However, this year's figure is actually slightly below those for the past couple of years as 57 rookie free agents made an NFL roster in 2010, while there were 54 last year. In contrast, less than 30 rookie free agents were still on an NFL roster at the start of the 2009 season.

In fact, 26 of the 32 NFL teams had at least one undrafted rookie free agent on the roster after the 53-man opening day roster deadline had passed on Friday. St. Louis led the way with 6 undrafted rookie free agents making the Rams' roster, while Jacksonville had 5. Cleveland also currently has 5 undrafted rookie free agents on its roster having kept three and claimed two others off waivers. Meanwhile, Green Bay has 4 undrafted rookies, while Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Miami, New England and Baltimore have three each.

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