In May, NFL owners approved a rule change that would eliminate the first roster cut-down period for teams. It used to be that NFL teams would have to go from 90-man rosters to 75-man rosters in the midst of preseason and then down to their final 53-man roster before the regular season.
While the change helps NFL teams to better evaluate the depth on their roster during the fourth and final exhibition game, it creates a bit of a frantic situation when roster cuts are finally made in time for the 1 p.m. PT deadline on September 2. Instead of 704 free agents (22 players per 32 NFL teams) hitting the market on that date following the previous cut of 480 players league-wide, the NFL landscape now could be saturated with 1,184 available players at once.
"Trimming 37 players at once will make for some enjoyable, organized chaos," wrote Conor Orr of NFL Media in May.
Keeping track of that many players league-wide involves a great deal of research by NFL front offices and coaching staffs. Lynch, who joined KNBR on Friday morning, feels confident and he and his staff will be prepared for the single roster down-down.
"For us in the front office, the next couple of weeks are going to be fast and furious because this year they made a rule change," Lynch said. "It used to go from 90 down to 75. Then we would go to 53. They made a rule change where you stay at 90, which helps us get through the fourth preseason game but all of a sudden there's going to be a release of players and you have the opportunity to claim players. So, setting that final 53-man roster, there's going to be a lot of work to be done here in the next couple of weeks."
"The advantage? It helps us get through that fourth preseason game," Lynch said. "Most people these days, it used to be you played some of your guys just a little bit. Nowadays, people don't dress some of their frontline players and they just try to get through it. That was difficult when you had a reduced roster. Now, we're going to be able to go at that game with 90 players or whatever the compliment of players we have. You're allowed to have 90 and that helps you get through that, hopefully, with less injuries.
"The downside, and it's not a downside so long as you're prepared and we will be, is that you've got to really do a great job of having scouted the rest of the league and saying, 'Ok, these guys potentially might be there. Can we better our team?' And it used to be a little easier because that number of players out there was reduced. Now, it's not going to be so you're just going to have to be ready and prepared and, like I said, we will be."
You can listen to the entire interview with Lynch on KNBR.
