NFL
Aaron Donald and the weekend of the roster cuts
Over the weekend of 30 August, 1,184 players were released across the NFL. All 32 clubs had to cut their rosters from 90 down to 53, and for the first time in 22 years the deadline fell on a Sunday. That same weekend, someone signed on. Aaron Donald, 35 years old and two seasons into retirement, is back on the payroll of the Los Angeles Rams.
Those two events side by side describe fairly precisely how the NFL works. Almost twelve hundred people lose their jobs in forty-eight hours, and at the same time someone who has been away for two years can simply step back in because he is good enough. It is a league that runs entirely on what you are worth now, not on what you once were or how long you have been around.
Aaron Donald is back, and it is not a symbolic move
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Players released inone weekend
All 32 clubs cut their rosters from 90 to 53.
The rumours had been circulating since June, immediately after the Rams acquired Myles Garrett from the Cleveland Browns. In late August, Donald worked out at the facility, formally logged as a tryout because he trained in a helmet using club equipment. Coach Sean McVay later called it the best tryout they had ever had. At roster cuts, he was added to the squad.
What that produces is exceptional. The Rams become the first team ever to enter a season with two players who have each won Defensive Player of the Year more than once. Donald won it three times, Garrett twice. Five between them. Cornerback Trent McDuffie plays in the same defence, and the Rams offence scored the most points in the league last season.
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Defensive Player of the Year awards between Donald and Garrett
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Seasons Donald spent away from the field before returning
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His age at the start of this season
The caveat is that nobody knows how many snaps he can handle. Insiders suggested back in July that he would take a situational role rather than the fifty or sixty snaps a game he used to play. That does not make it any less valuable. A pass rusher you bring on in decisive moments, alongside someone already there, is exactly the kind of luxury most teams never get near.
What 1,184 releases make visible
The rest of the league was doing the opposite. Each club cut an average of thirty-seven players. Some of those were predictable, many were not.
Will Levis, once a second-round pick and for a season the intended quarterback in Tennessee, was released. Trevon Diggs signed with the Seahawks on 19 August and was gone eleven days later, though he returned via the practice squad.
Isaiah Simmons, the eighth overall pick in the 2020 draft, was cut by the Panthers. Denver released a fifth-round pick from their own draft this year after he struggled to adjust, despite an 88-yard touchdown in the final preseason game.
What happens next
Being released in the NFL rarely means gone for good. Each club may then sign sixteen players to a practice squad, seventeen if one of them is an international player. Anyone not claimed on waivers often returns to the same club in that second tier. For the player it means a much lower salary and no security, but a place to keep training.
The system is harsh, but it is also fair in one respect: everyone knows in advance that the date is coming and where the line sits. There are no surprises about the number of places. Only about who gets them.
What the season will turn on
With rosters settled, the season starts on 9 September. The opener is immediately the Super Bowl LX rematch: the New England Patriots visiting the Seattle Seahawks, who won that game in February.
- 9 SeptemberPatriots at the Seahawks. The Super Bowl loser opens against the champion, in Seattle.
- 10 September49ers against the Rams at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the first regular-season NFL game ever played in Australia. Also the debut of the new Rams defensive line.
- First monthSeattle is without running back Kenneth Walker III under the PUP rule; he cannot practise until week three. Rookie Jadarian Price takes over.
The three storylines with the most in them are clear enough. Whether the Rams defence turns out to be as dominant as it looks on paper. Whether New England can turn February’s defeat into a stronger season, with A.J. Brown added in June. And whether Seattle holds up as champion while playing the opening weeks without its main running back.
What this shows about organisations
What struck me about this weekend is that the NFL does two things that rarely go together in ordinary organisations. It selects ruthlessly, and at the same time it makes room for someone who no longer fits the profile on paper.
Most companies do the exact opposite. They select softly, which leaves people sitting for years in a role that does not fit, and they are strict about who comes in: the right age, the right CV, the right last job. The result is an organisation stuck with whoever is already there while struggling to bring in who it actually needs.
The question the Rams asked themselves was not whether Donald fit the profile. He is 35, he was retired, and on any form he would be screened out. The question was whether he is the best thing available for the role they wanted to fill. That is a different question, and it is almost always the better one.