Twenty players were traded during NFL cutdown weekend. We graded every deal in penalty flags: who bought holding, who bought false starts, and who bought clean sheets.
Category: Roster Moves
NFC West Cutdown: Aaron Donald Is Back, and the Flag Ledger Has Notes on Everyone Else
The biggest transaction of cutdown weekend anywhere in football happened in this division, and it was not a cut. Aaron Donald signed with the Rams and ended a two and a half year retirement, a one-year return confirmed across the league wire within hours. Our ledger has its own footnote on him: across his last […]
NFC South Cutdown: Atlanta Shed Its Holding File, Carolina Signed a Roughing the Passer Record
Cutdown in the NFC South split along a clean line. Two teams shed flags. One team signed some. And one rebuilt its receiver depth by releasing most of it. The transaction wire treats these identically. The foul column does not. Atlanta Fourteen out, and the ledger’s loudest departure in the division. Wanya Morris was released […]
NFC North Cutdown: Chicago Cleaned Its Line’s Ledger, Green Bay Barely Cut Anyone
The NFC North’s cutdown was the lightest in football by volume, and it still moved real penalty history. One team released a former first round tackle with nine flags over two seasons. Another made the fewest moves of any team in the league and landed a veteran tight end anyway. Chicago Five cuts, and one […]
NFC East Cutdown: Washington Purged Its False Starts, Dallas Imported a Holding Problem
Two NFC East front offices spent cutdown weekend doing the same thing from opposite directions. Washington shipped out nearly every false start on its depth chart. Dallas traded for the most holding-flagged tackle to change teams all weekend. The wire calls these roster moves. Our ledger calls them what they are: flag transactions. Dallas Ten […]
AFC West Cutdown: Kansas City Imported the Division’s Biggest False Start Habit
The AFC West had the quietest cutdown in the conference by volume. It still managed to move penalty history around in ways worth writing down, including one trade that hands the division’s most procedure-flagged lineman to its most successful franchise. Denver Five out, four in, the only team in the division that added more than […]
AFC South Cutdown: Houston Rebuilt Its Depth and Its Discipline in One Weekend
One AFC South team accounted for more cutdown transactions than two of its rivals combined, and its injured reserve list is the worst news in the division. The other three had quiet weekends with one loud exception each. Here is the division’s cutdown through the only lens nobody else uses: what the departed were flagged […]
AFC North Cutdown: Cleveland Cut a Holding Machine, Pittsburgh Cut a Cornerback’s Worth of DPI
The AFC North’s cutdown reads like a penalty audit. One team waived the most flagged player to leave any roster in the league this weekend. Another shed pass interference yardage and claimed more of it back the same day. The wire lists the names. The flag ledger explains them. Baltimore Seven cuts, none with a […]
AFC East Cutdown: What Left the Roster, Measured in Flags
Cutdown weekend trims every AFC East roster to 53, and most of the coverage stops at the names. We keep a different ledger. Every player who walked out the door this week has a penalty record, and some of those records explain more than the transaction wire does. Buffalo Nineteen players out, and the flag […]