Waivers Process

[Grimmy]

Hey, UK based fan trying to learn a bit more about the game. Sorry if this seems a daft question to more experienced domestic fans!

I've been watching all the old seasons of 'Hard Knocks', and I got to the Bengals in 2009, and rather than getting the players who they are cutting in a room and telling them face to face, like all the other teams did, they just told them by phone. Does this vary from team to team, or just them doing it that way? What do the Pats do? It seemed like a pretty poor way for a pro organisation to treat people.

 

[luuked]

I dont know the episode but I guess you were watching final cut downs which are like 30+ players at once. I would not be surprised if a lot of teams handle it like that at that point because you want to be the person to tell them they are cut and not social media.

Maybe a question to send on Twitter to Matt Chatham or Tom Curran. They might answer it there or on podcast.

 

[chasa]

varies org to org, the bengals are not exactly a class team, so it's no surprise, however other teams will also call players if they are not present at the facility.

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

Most teams do it in person, because a.) its the decent thing to do b.) they want their playbooks, and access cards back c.) you never know if you are going to need to re-sign this guy later.

I can't imagine a time when any team would do it via text message, but that is the Bungels.

 

[Soliel]

It’s an Ohio team.

 

[maineman209]

Hey, UK based fan trying to learn a bit more about the game. Sorry if this seems a daft question to more experienced domestic fans!

I've been watching all the old seasons of 'Hard Knocks', and I got to the Bengals in 2009, and rather than getting the players who they are cutting in a room and telling them face to face, like all the other teams did, they just told them by phone. Does this vary from team to team, or just them doing it that way? What do the Pats do? It seemed like a pretty poor way for a pro organisation to treat people.

I'm not sure how "professional" the Bengals organization really is, however, I'm sure that other teams, including the Pats, try to inform players of their decisions as soon as possible. Sometimes those players aren't at the facility at the time, and a face-to-face isn't possible to arrange in a timely manner.

It's really in the player's best interest to be informed as quickly as possible, regardless of method. For many of the cuts, the player and his agent have a pretty good idea about how it's going to go, perhaps even before the final pre-season game. A good agent will have already been working the phones trying to convince other teams (preferred teams) to put in a waiver claim on his client in order to try to insure that his client remains employed.

In any case, there's a lot of things in motion on the player's side of things, too.