NFL Waiver Wire 2017: Projecting Preseason Cuts Who Will Land with New Teams

Not every NFL player served walking papers over the next two weeks ahead of the regular season will go unemployed long.  

Sometimes an excess of talent at a position or an odd fit that might work better in a different scheme or environment creates a release or two and a race to the waiver wire.  

Last year provided a great example of this when the Green Bay Packers surprisingly decided to part ways with guard Josh Sitton. The Chicago Bears, another NFC North team, knew what he could do and picked him up, where Sitton went on to help lead one of the league's best interior offensive lines while paving the way for breakout rookie back Jordan Howard.

Not every quick turnaround will work out so well. But here are a handful of players projected to lose jobs—but only momentarily.  

Cuts Who Won't be Unemployed Long

Dion Lewis, RB, New England Patriots

Chris Jackson/Associated Press

Call this one a development falling under the excess of talent umbrella.

Bill Belichick is at it again with his running backs, sitting on Dion Lewis, James White and Brandon Bolden, not to mention new arrivals Mike Gillislee and Rex Burkhead. 

This isn't meant to suggest Belichick would ever show his hand in a meaningless game. But Lewis worked with the second team in the New England Patriots' second preseason game, watching as Burkhead worked as the top back and White complementing him.

Burkhead looks like the top back in New England, getting short-yardage work and even catching three passes for 50 yards and a score from Tom Brady.  

The development likely leaves Lewis on the outside. Gillislee and White can do the same thing, whereas Lewis has only suited up for seven games in each of the past two seasons. He's a 26-year-old talent another team will want to roster as a committee member, but the depth chart in Foxborough is too crowded. 

Stephone Anthony, LB, New Orleans Saints

Ron Schwane/Associated Press

Sometimes a change of scenery is all it takes to get more out of a player.  

The team ready to gamble on Stephone Anthony of the New Orleans Saints has to hope the thought process applies here. 

Anthony slotted as a starting linebacker for the Saints after the team took him with the 31st pick in 2015. One year later, he had already lost the starting gig and this offseason the team added Manti Te'o and A.J. Klein. To make matters worse, Alex Anzalone is starting to win the battle at the weak-side 'backer spot. 

ESPN.com's Mike Triplett didn't shed much of a positive light on Anthony's chances recently. 

"And Anthony's roster spot also appears to be in jeopardy. The former first-round draft pick needed to have a stellar preseason to try to win a starting job on the weak side or a vital backup role," Triplett wrote. 

If and when Anthony gets healthy, he shouldn't have a hard time landing somewhere else. A 25-year-old Clemson product promising enough to come off the board in the first round will get a second chance in a hurry, no matter how his first two years in the league went. 

Jeremy Langford, RB, Chicago Bears 

Nam Huh/Associated Press

It's hard to imagine a team coming off a three-win season has an excess of talent anywhere, yet here are the Bears.

Chicago hit one out of the park with the aforementioned Howard, a fifth-round pick who landed second only to Ezekiel Elliott with 1,313 rushing yards and six touchdowns. The outburst put 2015 fourth-round pick Jeremy Langford on notice, to say the least. 

Langford averaged a 3.2 yards-per-carry average a year ago over 12 games on his way to 200 yards. He battled injuries and lost a pair of fumbles in the process and has had an ankle issue this preseason. To make matters even worse, the team drafted the electric Tarik Cohen, who looks like a shoo-in as the main complement to Jordan Howard. Benny Cunningham, who arrived in free agency, can also do much of the same. 

While Langford hasn't gone as far as Lewis in showing what he's capable of, he's another younger back (25) who teams won't mind picking up on a low-risk move in the hope he can produce while filling a defined role in a rotation. 

Chicago won't mind either way after revamping the entire backfield.

Blake Bortles, QB, Jacksonville Jaguars

John Raoux/Associated Press

The Blake Bortles saga is an odd one.  

Drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars with the third pick in 2014, the coaching staff there tried to work with him on mechanics and pepper the offense with weapons like Allen Robinson. Bortles has responded by being visibly worse from a mechanical standpoint this preseason and has a career 11-34 record. 

Quarterback wins aren't as important as some would like to think, but mechanical problems for a guy heading into his fourth season is a big deal. After a pair of shaky preseason performances, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero dropped the following: 

The Jaguars have a capable veteran in the form of Chad Henne, who started the team's third preseason game. It doesn't help that 2016 sixth-round pick Brandon Allen has looked better than both during the two exhibitions so far, second-team units or otherwise. 

Jacksonville aims to be a run-first team with the combo of Leonard Fournette and Chris Ivory. It's also not much of a secret that the team will need to start over under center in next year's draft if a guy like Henne and a sixth-round pick are flirting with being in the mix for a starting gig. 

All that aside, the NFL has a quarterback problem right now. There is quite the stench surrounding Bortles, but half the league seems to need a viable starter or a guy on the bench who could be one in a few years. 

It only takes one coach to think they can rework Bortles behind a starter for a few seasons to make the former No. 3 overall pick have a short stay on the open market after Jacksonville throws in the towel. 

Stats courtesy of NFL.com. Contract information per Spotrac.