Final Cuts -- The day that ends the dream for some NFL players. After final cuts, over 500 NFL players are now looking for work. For some, they will land jobs with other teams and a few younger players maybe get picked up on a team’s practice squad. For many of the younger players their quick minute of glory and hopes of making it into the NFL are now over. They will go on with their lives trying to find work in the real world and telling stories of how they had a shot in training camp and almost made it in the big league. That final day is almost like a funeral because it signals death to some guys.
As a player it sucks as you lose some teammates that you have become close to who are great people. This year it was Ryan Boschetti; a friend, a father with a wonderful family, a hard worker, a great teammate, a below average poker player, and a great guy. I will miss the Greasy Meatball and hope he picks up somewhere else. But as life in the NFL rolls on, we have to get ready to play our opening game against the Giants and Ryan's name becomes just one of many that have been on teams that I have played with to get cut.
As a player it sucks as you lose some teammates that you have become close to who are great people. This year it was Ryan Boschetti; a friend, a father with a wonderful family, a hard worker, a great teammate, a below average poker player, and a great guy. I will miss the Greasy Meatball and hope he picks up somewhere else. But as life in the NFL rolls on, we have to get ready to play our opening game against the Giants and Ryan's name becomes just one of many that have been on teams that I have played with to get cut.
In my position I have probably seen some 25 TE's come and go through 9 seasons. I have even felt the pain of being released. Three years ago in Jacksonville I received a phone call from the Grim Reaper himself. It was a call that ripped my heart right out of the chest, because everything I had worked towards for the past years of my life was gone. It had a profound effect on my wife and family as well because it meant relocation, moving them away from friends and our home. It was definitely the low point in my career as I didn't know what would happen next. But I lucked out and found a new home here in Washington. Making this day of final cuts for a guy like me, a day of life, a day of exhilaration because I made it another year. I get to continue playing football for one more season.
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