2026 53-Man Roster Thread

[Voice_of_Reason]

I'm just trying to wrap my mind around the need for an extensive conversation about our 4th string QB's practice squad designation, lol...

He has great hair.

And there will be no real news until September 13th, so we have to talk about something.

 

[burgold]

There is ne reason to keep Sam around. If they really don't have confidence in Mariotta's knee then Hartman could be the defacto 3rd QB. Mind you, I don't think that's the case because they already declared last year they'd rather grab someone off the street with no experience or practice time with the team than play Sam.

As an aside, I get the fact that these jobs are tough to land, but Sam accepting the position knowing how the team feels about him is a little ick. I think my pride would interfere with me accepting the gig.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

There is ne reason to keep Sam around. If they really don't have confidence in Mariotta's knee then Hartman could be the defacto 3rd QB. Mind you, I don't think that's the case because they already declared last year they'd rather grab someone off the street with no experience or practice time with the team than play Sam.

As an aside, I get the fact that these jobs are tough to land, but Sam accepting the position knowing how the team feels about him is a little ick. I think my pride would interfere with me accepting the gig.

Eh. if he turns down this job he's probably out of the league. Everybody else has their Sam Hartman already. So if the choice is to continue to be part of an NFL football team or not, I can see why he would take the job.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Galdi went through the roster yesterday on his show. It's worth a listen. His conclusion on the roster was that it wasn't the strongest roster in the NFL, but if you look position by position, it's also not a bad roster either.

I agree. If the starters are healthy, they have some pretty good talent on the team in a lot of spots, and what looks to be pretty good depth at certain spots. Where I think they have really good starters and good depth:

• QB: Daniels is a possible top 5 QB, and Mariota is a solid backup
• WR: McLaurin is a really good #1, Diggs is a really good #2 option. Having DBrown and Burks as backup options behind then are good. They are good, rotational level NFL starters. We'll see what Williams does as a rookie.
• TE: Chig has the potential to be really good, Bates is already a really good blocking TE (even though he missed a block in the Lions game which led to a sack), and Yankoff is a good backup to Chig. Sinnott exists.
• ILB: Luvu, Styles, Chenal, Magee and Medrano have a lot of upside and depth. This is the deepest group of ILBs we've had in ages. Better than anything we had when we last ran the 3-4 under Haz. London probably was better than any of these folks individually, but the group as a whole is really solid.
• OLB/Edge: Oweh, Chaisson, Armstrong (when he's back), Jean-Baptist have high upside and good depth along with some really good historical production. It's a solid group as a whole.

There are obviously questions at OL, particularly RG and C. We'll see on those. Many words have been written about the center angst.

The safeties, Cross looks great. We'll have to see how the rest work out. Butler is primarily a ST guy, as is Ownes. Can Martin bounce back? Reaves be a primary starter? I think that could work out ok, or it could not. Will have to see.

I'm still terrified about the CBs. Lack of proven starters and lack of depth. I hope to be proven wrong on this, and I'm wait and see, but if there was one position I'm worried about it's CB.

 

[Chris]

Being consistent about that leads to players always playing their best. True meritocracy leads to better results in general because players believe merit and hard work matter.

The alternative leads to getting drubbed in preseason because effort doesn’t matter. Not saying that is why the Ravens drubbed us but, it doesn’t help.

DQ claimed surprise at the effort level and execution. I agree; in many respects the results in preseason aren’t always the point. It is effort and execution.

I read this three times to make sure that I understand the point. Pardon me if I’m being dense…wouldn’t be the first time.

Keeping Hartman as the #4 QB and on the PS (which happened after that game was over) potentially had a deleterious affect on the psyche of the rest of the players trying to earn a spot on the team?

 

[Commander Wraith]

Galdi went through the roster yesterday on his show. It's worth a listen. His conclusion on the roster was that it wasn't the strongest roster in the NFL, but if you look position by position, it's also not a bad roster either.

I agree. If the starters are healthy, they have some pretty good talent on the team in a lot of spots, and what looks to be pretty good depth at certain spots. Where I think they have really good starters and good depth:

• QB: Daniels is a possible top 5 QB, and Mariota is a solid backup
• WR: McLaurin is a really good #1, Diggs is a really good #2 option. Having DBrown and Burks as backup options behind then are good. They are good, rotational level NFL starters. We'll see what Williams does as a rookie.
• TE: Chig has the potential to be really good, Bates is already a really good blocking TE (even though he missed a block in the Lions game which led to a sack), and Yankoff is a good backup to Chig. Sinnott exists.
• ILB: Luvu, Styles, Chenal, Magee and Medrano have a lot of upside and depth. This is the deepest group of ILBs we've had in ages. Better than anything we had when we last ran the 3-4 under Haz. London probably was better than any of these folks individually, but the group as a whole is really solid.
• OLB/Edge: Oweh, Chaisson, Armstrong (when he's back), Jean-Baptist have high upside and good depth along with some really good historical production. It's a solid group as a whole.

There are obviously questions at OL, particularly RG and C. We'll see on those. Many words have been written about the center angst.

The safeties, Cross looks great. We'll have to see how the rest work out. Butler is primarily a ST guy, as is Ownes. Can Martin bounce back? Reaves be a primary starter? I think that could work out ok, or it could not. Will have to see.

I'm still terrified about the CBs. Lack of proven starters and lack of depth. I hope to be proven wrong on this, and I'm wait and see, but if there was one position I'm worried about it's CB.

I agree as well. Of course the main issue is that the oline could have a huge negative impact, mitigating what quality we do have elsewhere.

I might quibble with some characterizations - I think Yankoff’s an ok at best backup to Chig until he proves himself in games, Sinnot’s is probably a below average to ok backup to Bates and Chig - but it’s a good list overall.

You left off Josephs from your edge group. Weirdly (because I keep forgetting about him), Wise is on PUP… we’ll see what happens when he gets back. Maybe he gets released, maybe he’ll be an upgrade from JJB, or maybe he’ll be the next man up if one of our top 3 goes down.

You didn’t mention DT? I think it’s a decent group, including depth. No stars (unless Payne balls out again in a contract year), but some solid players.



As for corner, I have my concerns as well. There are positives though:

Douglas has supposedly had a fantastic camp and is generally considered a solid starting corner. I think we kind of assume he’s not much since he was available at that point of the offseason. Your favorite outfit, PFF, had him ranked as the 20th corner.

Amik is probably better than he showed in Detroit last year (and has had a good camp), but who knows.

Moreau played a fair few snaps for a really good Viking D last year… though I’ll feel a lot more comfortable when/if Amos returns and Moreau slips a spot.

Sainristil is the big question mark. He’s got picks as the main factor on the positive side of the ledger, we’ll just have to see if the scheme/pass rush help with his actual coverage.

Lastly, we added some quality (I think?), experienced depth to the PS in Yiadom and Smith.

 

[HOF44]

Is this legit?? Have the been spying in here??

 

[Chris]

Is this legit?? Have the been spying in here??

View attachment 15465

 

[burgold]

The reality is anyone could be QB3. Any of us could carry a clipboard. Sam is probably an elite clipboard carrier especially when the wind blows through his hair.

It’s very possible the only role of WB4 is to look good. After all, they are the only player not assigned a helmet.

 

[philibusters]

Sam Hartmann may be a great scout team QB. The 4th string practice squad QB is almost always teh scout team QB . Maybe he spends dozens of hours each weeking mastering the other teams playbook so he can give the defense teh most realistic looks. Long story we don't know what they are weighing when it comes down to practice squad decisions and those worrying about it or over thinking it.

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

I read this three times to make sure that I understand the point. Pardon me if I’m being dense…wouldn’t be the first time.

Keeping Hartman as the #4 QB and on the PS (which happened after that game was over) potentially had a deleterious affect on the psyche of the rest of the players trying to earn a spot on the team?

No I didn’t mean to imply that.

I was making a general point about meritocracy. An individual action isn’t anything anyone can point to outside of the room. When you work with the best available, it drives you more; that’s only natural. Likewise, when you work with lesser talent, it is human nature to aim lower.

Philosophically, having players who aren’t great out there “can” have a trickle down effect I think. Although I do find it really weird that guys playing for their livelihood were criticized for effort (it sounded like from DQ).

All I was saying was in terms of team culture, I have a hard time thinking anything other than meritocracy drives success, especially when it may be visible (Hartman isn’t new to the team, so he is a standard bearer, returning).

 

[Conn]

Guess they decided they squeezed all they could out of the Drake Jackson reclamation project