As NFL Regular Season Approaches, the Real Action is Off the Field

National Football Post

QUOTE: “We do not count a man’s years until there is nothing else to count.” -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today is roster reduction day in the NFL, which means the phones are working for every team, and the fundamental question being asked by personnel people is, “Who’s on the bubble?”

Most teams have made their decisions regarding which players will be waived or terminated, but they still work the phones to determine if they might be able to gain a modest conditional pick for a player they’re releasing.

This cut is not difficult, nor will it challenge the thought process of teams, but this week is all about improving the roster. The main problem with this cut is that teams do not have time to work a player into this week’s games.

When a player is waived, he has to go through waivers today, and that means he will not be awarded to a team until tomorrow at 4 p.m. Eastern time.

Because the player has no chance to get involved with the games this week, what’s the sense of using a roster spot for someone who won’t play in the game?

When I was in the league, I loved getting phone calls from teams saying they had extras at a certain position and loved this player or that player, only to find in the next 24 hours that those players would be on the waiver wire. Why would I ever believe the guy the next time he called?

This week, the NFL will play the final pre-season games, but behind the scenes is where all the action is. Teams have to make sure their final 53-man roster, along with their practice squads, are compliant with the salary cap, so there will be some moving of players who might be making too much money.

Veteran players who are not going to start, or will not play vital roles on the team, are in danger of losing their jobs because teams don’t want to guarantee their salaries for the entire season, which will happen if they’re on the opening day roster. Therefore, this opens the door for some teams to find players to enhance their rosters.

Conversations are going back and forth between teams as the chess game off the field is in full force. The essential element for a team in need of a player is to determine if they can be in position to claim him once he hits the wire.

If not, then is it prudent to give up a conditional pick? (This means conditions are applied and have to be met before the team surrenders the pick, i.e., if the player is on the active roster for eight games, then the trading team would receive a draft pick. Keep in mind, any conditions can be applied, but the league office can veto a trade if it determines there is no substance or real value in the trade.)

This is when bad teams can make themselves better via the waiver wire. Let’s take the Rams, for example. They lack talent on every level and need to work diligently to find players who can slightly improve their team as they have to get good before they get great.

Incremental steps of improvement should be the order of business in St. Louis. Working hard at improving the roster should be the mandate, or else the rebuilding project is going to take longer than most would expect.

They have the second claiming order and need to use it wisely. They cannot have the attitude that they are all set with their talent base because they are not. Self- evaluation is the most critical step.

They have to grade each player on the roster not as if they can make their team, since making the Rams is no great achievement, but rather, are they going to help them win in the NFL?

Bill Walsh always felt that the time to improve the team was in September, in large part because players were looking for jobs, not contracts. He was willing to risk losing some games in September to help his team win in November and December.

Remember, the Bills were 4-0 last year in September and failed to make the playoffs. Walsh felt that if he had a bad hand, he would discard it and try to improve himself; he was never satisfied.

He pushed the envelope for improvement of his own personnel base, as he knew most of the NFL was going to play with a pat hand. Most teams would rather stay the same, even if the same was not good enough.

Change is hard for many in the NFL. He thought that prevailing logic was what gave him an advantage and he took advantage.

Forget the games this week. Watch the action off the field. Find out who will be proactive and make moves to improve their team.

Remember, it takes talent to evaluate talent. This week, we find out which teams are serious about winning and which teams are living in their self-illusions of their talent level.

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