Quite a few surprises to me, especially at WR and OL. They let Lil'Jordan Humphrey, Emmanuel Butler, Austin Carr and Bennie Fowler go, and kept undrafted rookie Marquez Callaway. You can only keep so many, but I thought for sure either Humphrey or Butler would stick. Had there been a preseason, I wonder if one of them could have knocked Tre'Quan Smith off the roster. At OL, Cameron Tom and Patrick Omameh, both of whom played a lot last year, are out. Ethan Greenidge and Derrick Kelly, both 2nd year men who never took a snap as rookies, are in. Considering we'll have a rookie at RG and a 2nd year vet at C, letting all of that experience go is a stunner. James Hurst is suspended for the first 4 weeks, and when he becomes eligible one of those two probably gets axed, or maybe Gilikan (see below). At DT, Mario Edwards, who was a solid reserve in '19, loses his spot to undrafted FA Malcolm Roach. Edwards was a swing player, subbing at both tackle and end. Roach is listed as a DT, but with Rankins, Onyemata, Brown and Tuttle, I don't know how he's ever going to see the field. Solid 4-man rotation at DE too, so this could be a salary move, but do we really need nine defensive linemen? How about another LB? We only kept 6, not including Kiko Alonso starting the year on the PUP list (out at least 6 weeks). And why keep 2 punters? Blake Gilikan makes the 53. My only guess is they are concerned that Morestead may opt out/COVID at some point in the year, but do you really need to take up a roster spot with that kind of insurance?
Is there any indication that Morstead might opt out than there is for any other player? The only 100% sure non opt out is Drew Brees
I remember him being talked about as a possible opt out when it became an option, because he apparently has unique family issues. Don't know what they are.
