Teams cut down to the 53 players on Tuesday, but rosters are hardly firm. Teams will continue to add and subtract players as they prepare for the openers in just over a week. Some skill-position players that I don’t expect will be unemployed for long:
Riley Patterson. Patterson made 29 of his 30 kicks for the Lions last year, his only miss a 55-yard attempt in adverse weather in Seattle. He made all 5 of his kicks in the preseason. There are plenty of teams with unsettled kicking situations, and it shouldn’t be long before Patterson lands with one of them.
Duke Johnson. Johnson became obsolete for the Bills after they used a second-round pick on James Cook, but the veteran still looks like a useful, versatile player. Most teams don’t have a third-down back who’s as good as him, and he’s capable of filling in as a starter. He had a pair of 100-yard games last year for Miami. He’ll be 29 in about a month, but he still looks like the same back to me. I saw him explosively rip off a 43-yard kick return in Buffalo’s preseason opener.
Marlon Mack. The Texans released him, but I expect he’ll land somewhere as a No. 2 running back. I saw a couple of runs in the preseason where Mack (pictured) looked just fine. He had the Achilles injury two years ago, but I think he’s fully recovered from that. He’s not as versatile as Duke Johnson (doesn’t play on special teams and isn’t a good pass catcher).
Phillip Lindsay. He had a pair of 1,000-yard seasons with the Broncos, but he’s slipped the last two years. Still hits the holes quickly and decisively. Like Marlon Mack, he can’t be put on the field for special teams or in passing situations. Undersized (5-8, 190).
Kevin Harris. At one point in the preseason, I was watching him play for the Patriots and thinking he didn’t look that different than their other power runners – Damien Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson. He weighs 220 pounds and in his best season at South Carolina ran for 1,138 yards and 15 touchdowns. I expect he’ll land on a practice squad somewhere.
Tyler Kroft. I saw him make one really impressive catch at Houston in the preseason, hanging onto the ball despite taking a hard hit. But the 49ers decided they had better options. I expect some other team will sign him as a backup. (Fantasy relevance: none).
Isaiah Hodgins. Buffalo has a deep group of pass catchers, so I think receiver-hungry teams will want to kick the tires on Hodgins. To me, he looks like he could be a contributor on some teams. He’s a bigger target, and he caught 16 passes in the preseason. He caught 8 passes for 77 yards in the opener against the Colts, including a diving catch on a 27-yard play. A team like the Bears, Browns, Ravens, Texans or Jaguars makes sense.
Keelan Cole. Cole has been a decent reserve receiver for the last five years, and I don’t know that’s he’s fallen off at all. He caught 11 passes in the preseason, with at least one catch of 20-plus yards in all four games.
Tyler Johnson. Something about the fit in Tampa Bay wasn’t right. Too often he and Tom Brady weren’t on the same page. But the Bucs are deep at wide receiver. I expect other teams will want to bring in Johnson for a look, hoping that he’s sparked by a change of scenery.
—Ian Allan