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- Cade Klubnik
- Aaron Donald
- Philadelphia Eagles
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The 2026 NFL opener between the Seahawks and Patriots is now eight days away, and teams have been busy cutting down their rosters, so here’s what we know coming out of Sunday’s cutdown …
Post-cutdown
No fewer than four teams—Vikings, Steelers, Falcons and Eagles—kept four quarterbacks coming out of the cutdown on Sunday. And it’s five if you count the Browns, who put Dillon Gabriel on injured reserve with what looks like a short-term injury.
So why the uptick? I’d say it’s a matter of asset management.
In four of the five cases, there’s a rookie in the group. Except for Minnesota, where there’s a second-year guy who arrived as an undrafted free agent. So each team has a young signal-caller who’d be considered in the developmental category that they might have been afraid to lose on waivers.
And that’d explain the Vikings’ handling of Max Brosmer (the aforementioned second-year player), who made it through the initial cutdown, but then was waived on Monday. The nuance there—a young quarterback is more likely to slide through waivers a day after the initial cutdown because rosters are less flexible, so teams might be a little less willing to release a guy now than they were yesterday when everything was still in flux.
Then, there’s the potential trade value of each. The Eagles, for example, brought in Andy Dalton this offseason with the idea that they might be able to get a pick or two back for Tanner McKee, whom they’ve developed, is in a contract year, and was effectively replaced in the pipeline this year when they drafted Cole Payton.
The flip side is that being that quarterback-heavy comes at a cost. When you can only dress 46 guys on game day, the 51st, 52nd and 53rd roster spots become tricky to fill—where you’re balancing the long-term value (development on offense or defense) vs. what a guy can bring you right now (special teams). And since quarterbacks usually have no special teams value, with them, solving for that equation becomes an all-or-nothing thing.
Anyway, on a quiet cutdown weekend (outside of Aaron Donald’s return), that was the thing that jumped out the most.
Cade Klubnik
To piggyback on yesterday’s takeaways item on how quarterbacks ranked coming out of high school vs. their entry to the NFL, we have Cade Klubnik winning the backup job behind Geno Smith with the Jets. He beat out Bailey Zappe, a five-year vet who’s seen action in 15 games (with nine starts), and Brady Cook, a 2025 undrafted rookie whom the Jets had on and off their practice squad last year.
Is there something there with Klubnik? Well, that’s where we can go back to who he was as a recruit—he was ranked No. 1 at the position nationally coming out of Texas powerhouse Westlake (Drew Brees’s and Nick Foles’s alma mater), which speaks to his physical traits.
And that’s what the Jets have seen thus far. Klubnik has a good frame for the position, a good arm, and is a good athlete, but he came into the NFL with a ways-to-go development curve because of the offensive scheme he played in as a college player. He’s quickly become beloved in that building, and the Jets think there’s a little something to work with there.
That doesn’t mean they have their guy of the future, or that they wouldn’t take one high next year. But giving him the backup job this quickly is a good sign.
Aaron Donald
One last thing on the Rams’ deal with Donald: Kudos to their ownership for spending over budget in what they believe could be a special year. Generally, teams set their cash budgets in February, and the Rams spent plenty on guys like Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson, with the potential for a Puka Nacua deal later.
So to add Myles Garrett, who wasn’t really on their radar until late March, when they struck out on Maxx Crosby and A.J. Brown, at $37 million in cash for this year, and Aaron Donald at $20 million (the baseline number he’ll get if he can avoid going on injured reserve) says something about how Stan Kroenke is managing his football team.
I beat owners up on this stuff sometimes. I’ll give credit here where it’s due.
Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles have some questions at the top of their roster, having to replace A.J. Brown at receiver and Jaelan Phillips on the edge. However, their depth is still unparalleled, and the cutdown once again illustrated that, with no fewer than four Philly players claimed by other teams.
Not only is it about drafting well, but it’s as much about the totality of what the Eagles invest in player development, an area that Connor Barwin spearheads. I don’t think I’d be out of line saying that Philly does more to work the bottom of their roster than any team in football, and the results show up on days like Monday.
Six other teams also had multiple players claimed. The Chiefs had three, and the 49ers, Broncos, Cowboys, Panthers and Colts had two apiece.
Miami Dolphins
On the flip side, the Dolphins claimed seven players, a staggering number, particularly considering that they were 11th in the waiver order, meaning all seven of those guys were passed on by 10 other teams. I can’t remember any team, even those much higher in the order, claiming that many guys at once.
Why is it so staggering? Well, consider that to claim seven guys, you have to cut seven guys on the back end—and that’s seven guys that you had through training camp that were good enough to make your initial 53-man roster.
Add in the trade of Quinn Ewers, and there are now only 45 players on Miami’s 53-man roster that were in camp with the Dolphins, which is half the number they had to start camp. All of that’s a pretty good illustration of just how far GM Jon-Eric Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley have to go in rebuilding Miami’s roster.
Seven other teams added multiple players via the initial claim—the Titans and Falcons had three each, while the Patriots, Giants, Vikings, Saints and Jets all had two.
And so we move a step closer to the real thing.
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ALBERT BREER
Albert Breer is a senior writer covering the NFL for Sports Illustrated, delivering the biggest stories and breaking news from across the league. He has been on the NFL beat since 2005 and joined SI in 2016. Breer began his career covering the New England Patriots for the MetroWest Daily News and the Boston Herald from 2005 to ’07, then covered the Dallas Cowboys for the Dallas Morning News from 2007 to ’08. He worked for The Sporting News from 2008 to ’09 before returning to Massachusetts as The Boston Globe’s national NFL writer in 2009. From 2010 to 2016, Breer served as a national reporter for NFL Network. In addition to his work at Sports Illustrated, Breer regularly appears on NBC Sports Boston, 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston, FS1 with Colin Cowherd, The Rich Eisen Show and The Dan Patrick Show. A 2002 graduate of Ohio State, Breer lives near Boston with his wife, a cardiac ICU nurse at Boston Children’s Hospital, and their three children.
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