Official 2025 Final Cuts Thread

[bobblehead]

Only 4 ILBs - and Welch didn’t make the cut. Interesting

I won't call cutting welch or simmons a shock, but cutting BOTH kinda stunned me. I figured lose the 6th corner and keep one of them.

[Fritz]

I won't call cutting welch or simmons a shock, but cutting BOTH kinda stunned me. I figured lose the 6th corner and keep one of them.

There were a couple of head-scratchers for me. Corner was one. I thought they might keep Hadden and King, but not Hadden and Robinson. I didn't hear much at all about Robinson in camp - very occasionally in the blow-by-blows of practice, I'd read something like "Robinson has tight coverage on that route," but that was it. When Valentine was a seventh-round rookie pick, you read a lot about how promising he looked. Nothing like that that I saw on Micah Robinson - yet he's on the team, and Kalen King is not. That seems odd to me. I'm guessing Robinson must somehow have shown much more promise than King. Hadden surprised me a bit too, given that he was hurt for a while, but I did read more about his upside than I did about Robinson.

Another head-scratcher was keeping six defensive tackles. I thought it would be five with Stackhouse out in the cold, but apparently they want that big run-stuffer - though I also read he's been getting pushed around a bit. Odd. I think six seems a lot for defensive tackle. And I truly don't get the Colby Wooden love.

I'm surprised, though not as surprised, about keeping only four linebackers, because I am fairly sure they'll IR a guy or two today or whenever they're allowed to, and re-sign (I'm guessing) Kristian Welch.

Of all of this, keeping Micah Robinson on the 53 is the biggest surprise to me.

[Joemailman]

There were a couple of head-scratchers for me. Corner was one. I thought they might keep Hadden and King, but not Hadden and Robinson. I didn't hear much at all about Robinson in camp - very occasionally in the blow-by-blows of practice, I'd read something like "Robinson has tight coverage on that route," but that was it. When Valentine was a seventh-round rookie pick, you read a lot about how promising he looked. Nothing like that that I saw on Micah Robinson - yet he's on the team, and Kalen King is not. That seems odd to me. I'm guessing Robinson must somehow have shown much more promise than King. Hadden surprised me a bit too, given that he was hurt for a while, but I did read more about his upside than I did about Robinson.

Another head-scratcher was keeping six defensive tackles. I thought it would be five with Stackhouse out in the cold, but apparently they want that big run-stuffer - though I also read he's been getting pushed around a bit. Odd. I think six seems a lot for defensive tackle. And I truly don't get the Colby Wooden love.

I'm surprised, though not as surprised, about keeping only four linebackers, because I am fairly sure they'll IR a guy or two today or whenever they're allowed to, and re-sign (I'm guessing) Kristian Welch.

Of all of this, keeping Micah Robinson on the 53 is the biggest surprise to me.

I think King outplayed Robinson. But I think they regard King as strictly a slot corner. They're pretty set there with Bullard, Hobbs and Nixon. I think they felt that Robinson's speed (4.38 40) gives him a better chance to play outside. He probably needs more development though due to the college competition he faced.

[Joemailman]

According to Bill Huber of Sports Illustrated, the Green Bay Packers have signed linebacker Nick Niemann to fill out their linebacker room. The Packers only kept four linebackers on their initial 53-man roster, which was just an unfeasible number for a 4-3 defense in a league that has recently emphasized both the kickoff play.

It was obvious that Green Bay was going to bring in a fifth linebacker on Wednesday. The only question was whether it was going to be an outside player or one of Isaiah Simmons or Kristian Welch, who the team released yesterday.

Niemann was a sixth-round pick out of Iowa in 2021. After playing in 64 games for the Los Angeles Chargers over four years, he signed a two-year, $6 million contract with the Houston Texans this offseason. This included a $1.5 million signing bonus, which the Texans had to eat with his release. In total, he received $4 million in guarantees from Houston.

According to a source, Niemann’s $2.5 million in guaranteed salary over the next two years has offsets, so there’s no incentive for him to ask for more than a minimum salary. He continues to get paid that $2.5 million, and a minimum salary leaves Houston on the hook.

Niemann is known best for his special teams play, as he’s only played 363 defensive snaps to 1,298 special teams reps in his NFL career. For perspective, he only played five percent of the defensive snaps last year in the 13 games that he was active for with the Chargers. Make no mistake: This is 100 percent a special teams move.

He’s also the brother of linebacker Ben Niemann, who played with the Kansas City Chiefs, Arizona Cardinals, Tennessee Titans, Denver Broncos and Detroit Lions. His father is Jay Niemann, who has served on Iowa’s staff as an assistant defensive line coach and the team’s defensive recruiting coordinator since 2019. The elder Niemann was Packers first-round pick Lukas Van Ness’ positional coach with the Hawkeyes.

[MadScientist]

Is Houston just stacked in LB's, or was there very good reason this Neimann was cut, even with the guarantees? The RAS score sounds like he should be good on teams.

[Joemailman]

Is Houston just stacked in LB's, or was there very good reason this Neimann was cut, even with the guarantees? The RAS score sounds like he should be good on teams.

https://texanswire.usatoday.com/stor...b/85820855007/

No More Neimann
According to KPRC 2 Sports' Aaron Wilson, the Texans are releasing veteran linebacker and special teams standout Nick Niemann. As a standout special teams defender, he failed to meet expectations in training camp behind Jake Hansen and Jamal Hill. His two-year, $6 million contract has $4 million guaranteed with a $1.5 million signing bonus.

[Joemailman]

The Packers have released CB Micah Robinson to make room on the roster for Neimann. Would think Robinson gets signed to practice squad if he clears waivers.

[Fritz]

I imagine Guter is holding his breath on that one. But then again, he was a seventh round pick, so maybe not.

[run pMc]

Robinson should clear waivers He wasn't better than Kalen King and King is on CAR's PS.
They're going to give him the year to develop, but if he sees the field he's either really improving quickly or the CB room is really injured and there's nobody on the street.

[NewsBruin]

"The Packers only kept four linebackers on their initial 53-man roster, which was just an unfeasible number for a 4-3 defense in a league that has recently emphasized both the kickoff play."

What does that mean? 4-3 uses fewer linebackers (although only having one reserve at any position would be a gamble) than a 3-4. And what about "the kickoff play"? It just reads like someone asked their AI buddy to write a sentence.