The NFL asks you to cut your roster to 53 members by a deadline at the end of the preseason, and the teams will all cut 37 people before they start the regular season. You will find that there are over a thousand guys who are out of jobs, and this is the last time that these people may play football. They have to go back to their lives, and they have to start again.
The NFL is sadder than you think
Walking away from a game you played your whole life must be hard, and I cannot imagine how hard it is for some of the people who do not have much to go back to.
The players will need to restart their lives, and they will have to figure out how to live without football. The locker room is a family that you and I do not understand, and they no longer have that. The guy who does not get to choose when to stop playing is unlucky indeed because he has been told that it is over. The agent has no more calls to make, and they cannot find a spot anywhere in the league.
Practice squads
Every NFL team has a small Practice Squad that is used for the weekly grind. These players are often activated off the practice squad if they are needed, and they do not dress on Sunday. Someone could hang onto the practice squad, and they could have a nice little career if they are able to hang in there.
It would be a way to extend your career, but there are many people who cannot even get that to work out for them.
Someone is becoming a coach today
I hope that some of these guys will become coaches because they are no longer in football, and they can take a job that will see them go to some part of America that will be exciting for them.
They can stay in the game, and they can grow into someone who will make a difference in the lives of players in the future. Sean McVay is the youngest coach in the NFL, and he became a coach because he knew it would not work out as a player. He went right into coaching, and now I am writing articles about him turning around the LA Rams.
There are many people who have that one NFL story
The players who are not able to make a roster can tell that one NFL story that will be nice for the kids and grandkids to hear. There are some players who may be interested in being on the outskirts of the game, and there are a number of those people who become broadcasters, producers, or work in businesses that support football. They may go to work for a college football program, or they may go into personal training. I hope they find their path if their NFL dream ends.
