Samaje Perine the lone Redskins cut claimed off waivers

The Washington Redskins cut 37 players among their final roster cuts on Saturday afternoon. They went through waivers on Sunday and only one would be claimed.

The Redskins, and the rest of the teams in the NFL, had to trim their rosters to just 53 men yesterday. During the NFL roster cuts, countless quality players were released onto the open market. And as teams scrambled to make waiver claims and create their practice squads, the shape of each team’s roster began to take shape.

The Redskins were among the teams to put in claims for players, and they were awarded with former Philadelphia Eagles running back, Wendell Smallwood. The former West Virginia product will replace Byron Marshall on the active roster and will serve as the backup receiving back behind Chris Thompson.

Though the Redskins sent some rosterable players through waivers, the squad only saw one of those guys get claimed. And the man that was taken may surprise some. It was Samaje Perine.

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Perine, the former fourth-round pick out of Oklahoma, had a rocky preseason with the ‘Skins. He only had one solid preseason outing in limited action against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 3. But for the most part, he struggled to find running lanes and demonstrated some issues with vision that ultimately led to his departure from the squad.

The Cincinnati Bengals ended up claiming Perine as they continue to hoard Oklahoma running backs on their roster. Perine will join his former teammates, Joe Mixon, as a part of the Bengals backfield while fellow Oklahoma alumn, rookie Rodney Anderson, will be on the IR as he recovers from a torn ACL. Perine figures to be the third back on the roster behind Mixon and Gio Bernard, at least until sixth-round pick Trayveon Williams (foot) is healthy enough to play.

If you asked Redskins fans which player would be most likely to be claimed off waivers, it’s likely that few, if any, would have guessed Perine. But it just goes to show that recent performance doesn’t matter to certain teams. The Bengals obviously saw something they liked about Perine, so they decided to target him on the waiver wire in hopes that he could become a part of the team’s running back rotation.

This also serves as a nice little reminder that not all players that are cut get a lot of attention on waivers, despite what some may think. Because of the size of NFL rosters, teams cut guys who were very effective players in the preseason. And though it seems like they may be claimed, they end up going unclaimed because teams simply don’t have enough roster spots for all of the potential-based players.

The Redskins saw a number of guys get through waivers who could’ve been on their active roster like safety Jeremy Reaves, defensive lineman Ryan Bee, and cornerback Adonis Alexander. Despite the preseason success of the former two and the potential of the latter, they didn’t end up getting snagged. And that’s how they ended up on the Redskins’ practice squad.

Next. Redskins practice squad tracker for 2019. dark

In short, you never know what might happen with NFL waivers. But more often than not, preseason waivers only impact a few players per team at the very most. And frequently, that number only ends up being one or two players claimed.

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