Aaron Donald ends retirement, rejoins star-studded Rams
USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon breaks down Aaron Donald’s return to the Rams and why it makes Los Angeles the no-doubt Super Bowl favorite.
The NFL’s obligatory annual roster purge is complete. But anyone participating in the league-wide reduction in workforce should know better than to refer to the recent flurry of moves as final.
Though all 32 teams had to set their initial 53-man rosters for the upcoming campaign, the action hardly comes to a standstill after Sunday’s cutdown deadline. Waiver claims will force further reshuffling for several franchises, and practice squads will also soon be formed.
But even though some teams might reverse course on several previous commitments, the weekend still revealed plenty about where several franchises and young players are headed.
With that being said, here are the biggest winners and losers of the NFL’s roster cuts ahead of the 2026 season:
Winners
Los Angeles Rams
Cutdown day typically holds diminished relevance for the veteran-laden Rams. Not so this year, though. The need to establish an initial 53-man configuration proved to be the deadline necessary to spur Aaron Donald’s long-expected leap back after two years spent retired. Sean McVay is tempering expectations on the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year’s workload, suggesting the defensive tackle will be eased in as Los Angeles prepares to open its season in Australia. Still, even in spot work and without reaching his previous peak levels of performance, Donald might still be a game-wrecker alongside Myles Garrett and a defense that now has an argument to be considered the league’s most feared unit. Hard to think of a more consequential transaction over the weekend than this.
Quinn Ewers
Months after finishing out the season as the Miami Dolphins’ starting quarterback in place of Tua Tagovailoa, Ewers saw a new regime swoop in and relegate him to a participant in a backup quarterback battle with Cam Miller and Mark Gronowski. With no clear place in the franchise’s expansive reset, the Texas product was dealt early Saturday to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who cut veteran Nick Mullens and installed Ewers as the No. 2. Getting to work under Liam Coen with a clear buy-in from a playoff contender seems like a sizable victory for a player who otherwise figured to get lost in the shuffle for the Dolphins.
Jalon Daniels
Most undrafted rookie quarterbacks spend their summer auditions at the pro level scraping for a practice squad berth. Daniels managed to snag the job backing up Baker Mayfield. The six-year starter for Kansas was scintillating in college but battled injuries and inconsistency throughout his career. His playmaking skills seemed as though they might not translate to the pros, but Daniels showed sufficient command to earn the second-string gig over a proven product in Jake Browning, who was released Sunday. Regardless of where things go from here for Tampa Bay and him, Daniels again demonstrated just how far his resolve can take him.
Undrafted free agents
Though dozens of players every year cling to a roster as rookies despite not having heard their names called in the draft, their success stories are still worth celebrating. At a time when several players were seeking escape hatches back to college via court rulings, let’s applaud some of the figures who stuck it out as pros and earned their spot.
Joe Fagnano wasn’t even the Baltimore Ravens’ most celebrated undrafted free agent quarterback signing, but the UConn passer had more staying power than Heisman Trophy runner-up Diego Pavia and now will serve as the team’s No. 3 option. Jack Strand also defied the odds by sticking with the Atlanta Falcons after perhaps faring better than any of the team’s other quarterbacks throughout the summer. Despite the Rams’ shortage of roster openings, outside linebacker Wesley Bailey broke through with a strong impression in preseason and training camp. And Green Bay Packers wide receiver J. Michael Sturdivant, who’s poised to make it 22 consecutive years that the organization has had an undrafted free agent make the Week 1 roster, had a touching encapsulation of what the experience meant to him.
Dolphins’ youth movement
First-year coach Jeff Hafley seemed to set the table for another round of veteran departures when he said last week that the success of the upcoming season would be measured not merely by wins but by a larger sense of organizational progress. On the weekend, Miami followed through by parting with the likes of experienced contributors such as linebacker Tyrel Dodson, safety Lonnie Johnson Jr. and cornerback Marco Wilson, among others. Now, the Dolphins will have to ride out the inevitable rough patches that come with rolling with a defense that’s so heavily dependent on first- and second-year starters.
Odell Beckham Jr.
There wasn’t much drama about his inclusion in the New York Giants’ receiving corps. Still, this reunion wasn’t a full go from the outset of his signing, with the team making clear it was running an exhaustive search to bolster its outlook at the position. Opportunities likely will be scarce in what figures to be a run-heavy attack that will likely prioritize rookie Malachi Fields, Darnell Mooney and Darius Slayton behind go-to target Malik Nabers. But if Beckham can break free the way he did on a missed deep connection with Jameis Winston in the preseason finale, the three-time Pro Bowl selection can overwrite his acrimonious exit seven years ago by fostering some fond memories.
J.J. McCarthy
He avoided the indignity of being released outright by the Minnesota Vikings, which would have steepened an already precipitous fall from grace. That might seem like cold comfort for a quarterback whose standing is still uncertain after he rapidly transformed from future of the franchise to not even the clear No. 2. Still, for as dicey as things might be for McCarthy, he still at least carries enough value that the Vikings wouldn’t merely walk away from him empty-handed – at least not now.
Losers
J.J. McCarthy
The Vikings’ decision to carry McCarthy along with three other passers hardly seems like a long-term commitment to a robust quarterback room. Instead, Minnesota might merely be buying time before determining who gets squeezed and how. Coordinating a trade would help all parties move on, and a prime opportunity to do so just passed.
Jerry Jones
Anyone seeking to flip a depreciated asset would be wise to make the Dallas Cowboys’ owner and architect their first call. Jones once again gravitated toward an underachieving former high draft pick, this time acquiring offensive tackle Broderick Jones from the Pittsburgh Steelers. Between his unclear recovery from a neck injury suffered late last season and his overall subpar play, the former first-rounder seems exceedingly unlikely to solve any problems up front for the Cowboys, even in a limited role. Yet Jones was still willing to downgrade a third-round selection to a fourth-rounder and send a sixth-round pick as part of the package. It’s unclear if Jones achieved any upgrade at swing tackle whatsoever after subsequently sending Nate Thomas to the Houston Texans. The price tag isn’t as alarming as the compensation to secure wide receiver Jonathan Mingo in November 2024, but it still looks like a clear overpay.
Green Bay Packers’ run game
No suitable solution for Josh Jacobs landing on the commissioner’s exempt list was going to emerge for Green Bay in the hours after the decision was revealed. Still, the Packers’ ground game is in a rather precarious spot with the lead back in limbo amid misdemeanor charges of battery and criminal damage to property. Asking MarShawn Lloyd to pace the ground game for however long Jacobs remains out seems like a precarious proposition, given that the running back has played in just one game over two years due to injuries. Acquiring disappointing second-year ball carrier Kaleb Johnson does little to move the needle for an attack that now lacks a legitimate backup behind Lloyd. Maybe this suspect setup could compel Matt LaFleur to give Jordan Love some much-needed leeway to open the offense up a bit more out of necessity. Yet if he remains reliant on the run, the Packers’ formula could be thrown further out of whack.
The four-QB facade
Sunday’s cutoff figured to prompt several teams to choose a path and narrow their crowded quarterback rooms. Instead, several stood pat. The Vikings, Falcons, Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles all broke from convention by carrying four quarterbacks on their 53-man rosters. And if not for Dillon Gabriel landing on injured reserve with a return designation, the Cleveland Browns would be in the same camp. Yet save for perhaps the Steelers, it seems as though each organization is merely buying time to figure out a forthcoming move to bring the commitment at the position down to a more reasonable level. A trade might be the optimal outcome, but bumping one backup down to the practice squad – or simply cutting one – might end up as the necessary solution.
(Update: After the story was published, the Vikings waived Max Brosmer, reducing their QB count on the active roster to three.)
Chicago Bears
Gervon Dexter Sr. was hardly a singular force in his three years with the defending NFC North champions. Yet the 6-6, 326-pound defensive tackle was still the leading source of interior disruption for the Bears – at least until the team flipped him in a trade with the Falcons for cornerback Clark Phillips III and a fifth-round draft pick. Sixth-round rookie Jordan van der Berg has offered up promising glimpses for Chicago in training camp, and the secondary was in need of assistance with slot Kyler Gordon out for at least the first four games of the season as he remains on the physically unable to perform list. Still, this was an odd deal for a team intent on running with the NFC’s best, a task that now looks even more difficult for a takeaway-dependent defense.
Will Levis
His August assertion that “there aren’t 32 quarterbacks in this league better than me” sounds even further removed from reality now that the Tennessee Titans waived the former No. 33 overall pick after three years. Levis still likely has a future somewhere as a palatable backup, and it’s not impossible to envision him finding his way to work as a spot starter. But the excitement surrounding the strong-armed passer dissipated long ago, and there might be limited opportunities for him to actually demonstrate any growth.
Justin Joly
The North Carolina State product wasn’t a focal point of the 2026 NFL Draft’s tight end renaissance, slipping to the fifth round despite impressive receiving production the last two seasons. Yet when Joly landed with Denver, it seemed as though he might be able to make his mark for a contender that hadn’t gotten enough out of the position as of late in the passing game. On Saturday, however, he was cut loose, with general manager George Paton expressing doubt about his ability to contribute to this year’s team. Maybe he can latch on elsewhere, but this was one of the more surprising separations.
(Update: After the story was published, Joly was claimed by the Dolphins off waivers.)