Predicting the Commanders’ roster cuts before 80-man deadline

Just like that, the Washington Commanders only have one preseason game remaining. The final fixture is this Saturday against the Baltimore Ravens. Before then, though, Ron Rivera and the front office will have to submit the team’s next round of roster cuts by Tuesday’s 4 p.m. EST deadline.

Much like last week’s cutoff, the Commanders’ must remove five players from their roster to meet the required 80-man threshold. Of course, the team doesn’t have to outright cut five players. There are loopholes to exploit, like placing players on IR, which is what happened with Sammis Reyes and Alex Armah.

For what it’s worth, Washington placed defensive end Bunmi Rotimi on injured reserve with a leg injury suffered in Saturday’s preseason loss. It’s unclear if that’ll factor into Tuesday’s deadline, but for the sake of argument let’s gloss over it and try to project the five players the Commanders will cut this week.

Projecting the Commanders’ roster cuts before 80-man deadline

Reggie Bonnafon, RB

In a perfect world, the Commanders would keep all the running backs on their offseason roster. Unfortunately, you can only carry 53 players during the regular season and Bonnafon finds himself on the chopping block given he’s buried behind Brian Robinson, Antonio Gibson, JD McKissic, Jaret Patterson and Jonathan Williams.

The fact Patterson and Williams could miss out on the final roster means Bonnafon fate is pretty much sealed even if he isn’t cut this week.

Ferrod Gardner, S

Widely viewed as one of Washington’s weakness heading into the offseason workout program, the safety room has quietly morphed into a potential area of strength. While Bobby McCain and Kam Curl form a solid starting tandem, Darrick Forrest and Percy Butler have impressed during camp, recent signing Steven Parker has made the most of his opportunities and Jeremy Reaves played the most defensive snaps (26) of any secondary player in Saturday’s loss to Kansas City.

Gardner, meanwhile, logged just three snaps and currently faces long odds to stick around beyond Tuesday’s 80-man roster deadline.

Justin Hamilton, DT

All told, Hamilton or fellow defensive tackle Tyler Clark could get the axe by Washington. While the club doesn’t have much interior depth, the coaching staff likes Efe Obada and James Smith Williams’ ability to kick inside on passing downs.

With Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, Phidarian Mathis and Daniel Wise all locks to make the 53-man roster, don’t be shocked if Hamilton or Clark get cut this week.

DeJuan Neal, CB

It’s hard not to be drawn to Neal’s journey to the NFL. A former star at Shepherd University, Neal fortified his resume in the XFL and USFL before joining Washington this summer. The young corner was actually signed by the Commanders as an undrafted free agent in 2019, so he has familiarity working in his favor.

Despite that, Neal seems to be behind fellow USFL product Channing Stribling in the cornerback pecking order. He played just 11 snaps vs the Chiefs Saturday and whiffed on a touchdown-saving tackle on 3rd and goal in the red zone that put Kansas City up two scores just before the two-minute warning.

Jacub Panasiuk, DE

As mentioned earlier, the Commanders placed Bunmi Rotimi on injured reserve, effectively ending his season. That could improve Panasiuk’s chances of lasting until the final round of roster cuts, when the total drops from 80 to 53 players, but Washington seems to like its current options at defensive end.

Panasiuk erupted as a senior for Michigan State, totaling 73 pressures, which was the fifth-most of any defender in the country, but he has an uphill climb to survive this round of cuts with Montez Sweat, James Smith-Williams, Casey Toohill, Efe Obda, Shaka Toney and William Bradley-King all ahead of him on the depth chart.