NFL Preseason Week 4 - What We Learned

Written by John Edward Betancourt

One of the hardest parts of life in the NFL has come to its end. A roster of 75 men, hopeful to live their dream of playing professional football is cut down to 53, ending the dream for 22 players. It makes the fourth preseason game all that more important, at least to the players and sometimes it makes for some compelling stories so here are the top ones from the field from the final week of preseason in the NFL.  

1. Tim Tebow's shot at a comeback ended in the strangest of fashion when the Philadelphia Eagles cut him this weekend. In fact for a minute there it looked like Tebow had locked up a roster spot. Philly traded QB Matt Barkley to the Arizona Cardinals and then...surprise, Tebow was released. It's strange because Tebow actually improved. He was finally looking like a QB full of potential, but then again...there is no rhyme or reason to what Chip Kelly does so who knows what was going through his mind but for Tebow, who has now seen four teams trade or release him in his short NFL career, this may be the end of the line since it seems Kelly was the last coach willing to give him a shot.  

2. Denver has a tough decision to make when it comes to Brock Osweiler. The young QB and long time backup to Peyton Manning looked absolutely phenomenal in his second preseason start for the Denver Broncos last week, opening up the game with a beautiful 78 yard bomb to Andre Caldwell early on in the game. He's looked pretty damn sharp throughout the entire preseason and the tough decision looming is do they lock him up to a long term contract now before Peyton has hung up his cleats or do they risk potentially losing him to offers in free agency? It's hard to say what will happen exactly. I hope Denver locks him up quickly, after all, a guy that has spent four years learning from one of the greatest ever and knows your system is rare. It is a move that may offend Peyton, but as much as I respect him, he and the Broncos have to know the end of his career is looming and that decisions for the future have to be made.

3. The only other player let go by his team that caught me by surprise came out of Buffalo with the release of Running Back Fred Jackson. I get that LeSean McCoy is the starter there but man...Fred was a bruiser of a tailback and an amazing short yardage player so why the heck would you let a player of that caliber go? It's not like the Bills are a squad trying to figure out where to find money every year because they only have a handful of top tier talent that they pay as is, this was just a weird and silly move. I get making sound business decisions. I get letting players go that are past their prime, but I don't get letting a player go when he doesn't fit into either of those categories. For a moment I thought things would be different in Buffalo with the signing of Rex Ryan, but I see that poor decisions still plague the front office up there. On the plus side, Jackson found a new home in Seattle, where he will no doubt contribute. 

4. Sometimes when you find out you're not the starter on a team, you get a little cranky. We've often heard of stories where quarterback battles lead to some bad blood or wild behavior...but we rarely get to see it unfold in front of us like we did on HBO's Hard Knocks last week. Ryan Mallett was given the news in Houston that he would be the number two and his response was well, up to interpretation I suppose, but if you ask me, he clearly expected to be the starter and didn't handle it well. On the show he basically stormed out of the QB's meeting room upon getting the news and of course the show managed to chronicle the strange day that hit the news wire where Mallett basically overslept and missed most of practice. It's a fine lesson in being a team player and how to handle adversity, but it's more amazing to see it happen in front of a camera for a change. 

5. While this may not qualify as a top story, we do need to take a minute and discuss Hard Knocks. Because this is a show that any football fan out there should be watching religiously. This is the only show that truly takes you inside the world of football and lets you bear witness to the work some of these men put in and the last two episodes are always the most emotional and difficult, because they happen to chronicle in detail...cut down day. There are just some incredibly heart breaking moments as you witness a man's football journey come to an end and the season finale arrives this Tuesday as the Houston Texans shave their roster down to 53 players. Seriously, check it and the rest of the season out if you can, you'll be blown away by how good this show is. 

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