2026 NFL Roster Cuts: Predicting the Biggest Names Who Could Hit the Market

It's a nerve-wracking time of year for many NFL players.

As the preseason winds down and the start of the regular season approaches, NFL teams have difficult decisions to make. By the time we hit 6 p.m. ET on Sunday, all 32 teams have to cut their active rosters to 53 players.

As many as 1,184 players will be released, return their playbooks and attempt to secure practice-squad spots.

Every year, there are some surprising departures. Some are early-round picks who just haven't panned out, veterans who are released as much for economics as performance, and aging vets at the end of the line.

Here are some of the biggest names who could get cut before the deadline.

QB Dillon Gabriel, Cleveland Browns

AP Photo/Kirk Irwin

Quarterbacks generally retain value around the NFL, so it's a bit odd to imagine a team cutting bait on a young signal-caller who made six starts in 2025.

However, Cleveland's crowded quarterback room makes Gabriel's path to a roster spot increasingly uncertain.

Gabriel barely played in the Browns' second preseason game, failing to complete his only pass attempt. But he was on the field for three false starts, drawing the ire of head coach Todd Monken after the game:

"At the end, you wanna talk about (expletive) football. I don't care who goes out there. If I could have taken a knee, I probably would have. What the (expletive)? I don't know what to tell you. We work on cadence and operation, and we will continue to do it. You can't lead an offense if you can't lead a cadence. Browns hurting Browns. You're not going to have a chance when you do that."

Gabriel was a third-round pick of the Browns in 2025, but for better or worse he has clearly fallen behind Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson on the depth chart. With rookie Taylen Green also on the roster, it's a numbers game—one Gabriel is losing.

This isn't to say Gabriel won't land with another team, or that he can't carve out a lengthy career in the NFL as a backup quarterback. But it is becoming increasingly apparent that his next opportunity will come elsewhere.

RB Trey Benson, Arizona Cardinals

AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez

Not long ago, the Arizona Cardinals hoped Trey Benson would become their lead running back.

Now, it's looking more and more like he won't even be on their 53-man roster.

Benson has flashed at times when healthy, but that "when healthy" caveat has been a big one—the third-round pick in 2024 missed time as a rookie with an ankle injury and made it just four games into the 2025 campaign before a knee issue ended his season.

That same knee injury has hampered the 24-year-old this offseason, although Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur attempted to downplay the injury:

"Just a little discomfort, just a little flare up in the left knee. It's unfortunate because it was feeling so good and I really thought he was getting his legs underneath him. Any time you're coming back from an injury like him, he just wants to be out there. He can feel everything going up and then all of (a) sudden out of nowhere, it kind of just flared up on him a little bit."

After drafting Jeremiyah Love third overall in April, there's no question who the lead back in the desert is. The team also has a high-end No. 2 back after signing Tyler Allgeier in free agency.

Given that, Benson's spot on the roster was already shaky. His inability to stay healthy may well have sealed his fate.

QB Will Levis, Tennessee Titans

AP Photo/Matt Slocum

The first pick in the second round of the 2023 draft, Will Levis made 21 starts over his first two seasons. Then the Titans drafted Cam Ward first overall in 2025, and Levis was relegated to the bench.

The Kentucky product may soon be out of Nashville altogether.

For his part, Levis told reporters that he still believes he can be a capable starter under center in the NFL:

"I know I've put the tape out there already that I'm a dang good quarterback in this league and I'm even better than I ever have been. There are not 32 quarterbacks in this league better than me. I know that for sure. I'm just focused on having fun. I needed that time, not just physically, but just mentally to calm the nervous system. Where I'm at mentally is in a much healthier place than it's ever been. I feel like I worked a lot for other people's approval in the beginning of my career. And whereas I'm just trying to be the best version of me at this point."

Levis, 27, may not be lacking in confidence, but his performance tells another story. In those 21 starts, he threw just 21 touchdown passes. His passer rating barely cracked 80, and he committed multiple turnovers.

Ward is the unquestioned starter in Tennessee, while Mitchell Trubisky is a veteran backup with nine seasons and 57 starts under his belt.

Levis faces a difficult path to a roster spot.

Edge Sam Williams, Dallas Cowboys

AP Photo/Matt Patterson

Sam Williams once appeared to be an ascending young edge-rusher for the Dallas Cowboys.

A second-round pick in 2022, he amassed 8.5 sacks over the first two years of his career. But injury wiped out his 2024 season, and he had just one sack despite playing a career-high 474 snaps a year ago.

Williams told reporters that he has heard all those who doubt his ability to make an impact in the NFL—and he has used that as fuel to have his best season yet:

"I took all the reports, all the negative comments, everything. And I took it in and I looked at myself in the mirror because you can't get better unless you know what you're doing wrong. So, everything that I've seen, I try to fix. Like even in my room, it's written on the mirror. At the end of the day, I just took all the negatives and, you know, look myself in the mirror. Not blaming no one else and just work. Just work, work, work. Put my head down and let my work speak for itself."

Williams may have to jump-start his career elsewhere. Rashan Gary, Donovan Ezeiruaku, rookie Malachi Lawrence and newly signed Von Miller appear to be locks for the 53-man roster. That could leave only one or two spots for Williams, Marist Liufau and James Houston, and Liufau is a core special teams contributor.

Williams would no doubt quickly get scooped up, but the truth is there may not be room for him in Dallas anymore.

CB Kristian Fulton, Kansas City Chiefs

AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann

When the Kansas City Chiefs signed cornerback Kristian Fulton last year, it was supposed to be a stabilizing move—a veteran presence added to the position group a year before what became a seismic shift in personnel.

As Matt Conner noted for Arrowhead Addict, however, that isn't exactly what happened:

"Instead of providing a dependable pillar in the midst of change, everything about Fulton has been perplexing from his first preseason. Not only did he miss the bulk of training camp due to injury, but he also hurt his ankle early in Week 2. By the time he was healthy, he still wasn't playing as a healthy scratch week after week for Steve Spagnuolo's defense."

Now, there's a real chance Fulton could be out of a job altogether.

Rookie first-rounder Mansoor Delane appears likely to start on the boundary, while Nohl Williams and L'Jarius Sneed are the leading candidates for the other outside role. With Kader Kohou projected to handle slot duties, Fulton could enter the season as Kansas City's fourth cornerback, assuming Spagnuolo views him more favorably than he did last year.

Fulton wasn't terrible when he was on the field—his 81.7 passer rating against was his best since 2021—but he played just 208 snaps in his first season in Kansas City. And a $13 million cap hit is a lot for a subpackage corner.

WR Odell Beckham Jr., New York Giants

AP Photo/Lynne Sladky

Odell Beckham Jr. was once arguably the NFL's best wide receiver during his time with the New York Giants.

In each of his first three seasons, he topped 1,300 receiving yards. He made one of the greatest catches of all time and won a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams.

Beckham is now nearing his 34th birthday, though, and his last 1,000-yard season came back in 2019. Last year in Miami, he caught all of nine passes for 55 yards.

And while a reunion with the team where he started his career may be a good story, Beckham faces an uphill battle to make the Week 1 roster, according to ESPN's Jordan Ranaan:

"Beckham is clearly on the bubble. Malik Nabers, Darnell Mooney and Braxton Berrios all had the day off in Saturday's preseason game against the Dolphins. Malachi Fields, Darius Slayton and Calvin Austin III started. Beckham is behind them all on the depth chart. Beckham has proven he can get open, but is that enough? Unless the Giants trade a wide receiver, there probably won't be room for him on the roster."

Beckham didn't help his chances by narrowly missing a touchdown catch in that game against the Dolphins, but the reality is that he's an aging receiver who has one year with 550 receiving yards in the last six years.

His recent production has not matched the reputation he built earlier in his career.