Saturday, September 3rd is a red-letter day for National Football League general managers around the country. This is the day teams must submit their final 53-man roster for Week 1 of the NFL’s 2016 season.
Unfortunately, it was not a happy day for international hopefuls Anthony Dablé, Mortiz Boehringer, and fourth-year NFL veteran Markus Kuhn. All three were cut from their respective NFL teams.
“Football is a people business,” Ben McAdoo, New York Giants head coach said. “You can’t take everybody with you, especially at the beginning. But they’re fine young men, they handled themselves well, and we wish them the best moving forward.”
“It was a challenge,” McAdoo said. “You wanted to make sure you did what was best and took the best 53 and rounded out the roster the best way you can. But there were some good players we had to let go.”
French wide receiver Anthony Dablé has been with the Giants since being signed to a free agent contract in April and made it to the team’s last cut.
Despite being in good health and making it through last week’s 75-man cut, he did not play in the Giants third preseason game. This is a sign they could be stashing Dablé in an attempt to get him to the practice squad.
MoBo not an NFL star just yet
German wideout hopeful Moritz Boehringer, who was the hot story of the 2016 NFL Draft, has been released by the Vikings.
“MoBo” was selected in the sixth round by Mike Zimmer and Minnesota. The 22-year-old had taken up football just five years ago and developed into a star in the German Football League. A stunning showing at the Florida Atlantic pro day turned heads and brought the foreigner immediate media recognition.
Despite all the fanfare, Zimmer did not promise the rookie anything in advance, telling the media in May, “It’s football now, and it’s time to work. The feel-good story is over.” Boehringer didn’t see one in-game reception during the preseason.
Still, the dream is not entirely dead for Boehringer; Minnesota is expected to keep the German on as a practice squad player if he is not signed by another organization.
Fourth-year German makes it to New England Patriots final cut
Markus Kuhn is a German American football defensive tackle who played his college football at North Carolina State University. He was selected by the New York Giants in the seventh round of the 2012 NFL Draft.
After three seasons and moderate success in New York, he was released following the 2015-2016 season. He was picked up by the Patriots and made it until today’s final cut.