Alright fellas, I’m gonna read off a few names, and when you hear yours, just say window or aisle. NO, you will not be receiving an in-flight meal. No, you will not get to keep your iPad charger, and YES, you will have to buy your own Wi-Fi on the flight home… Where’s Johnson?!  

Roughly 1,200 men will be released before 4 PM Eastern on August 27th. All those names will be called out by the grim reaper for each team, and they will be asked to turn in their playbooks and other sensitive material. Several players will transition from being cut by one team to being picked up almost immediately by another, which simply changes the color scheme of their NFL dream. For others, years of high school and college excellence, followed by months of preparation for a shot at becoming a professional football player, will come to an abrupt end. The truth about the NFL is that it’s a business, and all businesses are married to the numbers. This week, 32 general managers and owners will decide which 53 athletes to keep and which ones to let go. As we pay close attention to who’s on the bubble, what teams’ decisions might mean, and who already got a bus ticket, we start to get a better idea of not just who will be on the team, but what kind of team it will be.

Cut day is tough for both the players and the teams. Some of this is just painting by numbers, as every squad has its veterans who form the foundation of the roster. Salary restrictions create the age-old list of surprise “Cap Casualties” every season. These are veteran players who are usually good enough to make the team but come with a price tag that is high enough to make the team pretend like they’re going to the bathroom and then run out.

Every other cut day decision is a hard-nosed, tear-jerking, and revealing maneuver meant to craft the picture and product that each team’s front office wants to put on the field. GMs go out and acquire players that fit what the coaching staff needs to execute their scheme successfully. This means there is a direct correlation between who makes the team and what the team will be doing on the field. The names tell you the plan, and if you can read the names and understand what they mean correctly, you can read the playbooks a lot better. Here at the National Sports Report, we will tell you how to read the tea leaves as each team trims its tree.