'Horns in the NFL: First round of cuts

The NFL season is approaching and the teams are scrambling to determine which players can give them the best chances for a successful season. The deadline for the teams to reduce their rosters from 90 to 75 players was Tuesday. Unfortunately, several Longhorns were cut.

Emmanuel Acho was the first man to get the bad news late last week when the Eagles waived him after a thumb injury. He will be out for a couple of weeks, which makes it difficult for him to find another team before the season starts.

Wide receivers John Harris and John Chiles didn't make it through either as they were let go by Atlanta Falcons and Chicago Bears, respectively. The only active Longhorn offensive lineman who was drafted, Tony Hills, is no longer with the Carolina Panthers, along with Cedric Reed, Aaron Ross and Curtis Brown, who were cut by the Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns and New York Jets.

Bad news was also received by the former Longhorns who transferred out of the program, GJ Kinne and Garrett Gilbert, as they were released by the Eagles and Lions.

Since all of the final preseason games this week will take place on Thursday (September 3rd) and the teams will have to make their last cuts before Saturday, I will only detail the status of the players who are at risk of being cut before Saturday. Then I will provide a full status update of each Longhorn before week one of the regular season.

Colt McCoy is living within the drama in DC. Jay Gruden announced Kirk Cousins as the starter in Week 1 after he performed well in last week's preseason game with Robert Griffin III out. It's unclear whether RGIII was benched because of his injury or just because of his performance. Meanwhile, the Longhorn legend, who also had a great showing this week, will play the entire game on Thursday and it will be a great chance to demonstrate he is capable of filling the role as the Redskins quarterback.

Fellow undrafted free agent rookies Malcolm Brown and Jaxon Shipley have both made it through the first round of cuts, but their final spots on the Rams and Cardinals rosters are not certain. Last weekend Brown split carries with Isaiah Pead and Trey Watts, with whom he is fighting for a spot. Shipley continued to impress by catching one pass for 11 yards and returning a kickoff for 19 yards.

Despite the buzz last week about a possible Marquise Goodwin trade, the speedster is still with the Bills and he will likely be part of the organization when the final cuts are done. The Olympian showed chemistry with all the three Bills' QBs, catching a pass from each one. Unfortunately, Goodwin injured his ribs on this play and will likely miss the next preseason game.

San Diego Chargers safety Adrian Phillips and offensive guard Michael Huey, despite having made the cut this week, are still on the bubble to be on the final roster. Their performances in this week's game against the San Francisco 49ers will be key for them.

The best performing Longhorn during this preseason has been Jackson Jeffcoat. After notching two sacks in his first two games, he had another one this past weekend and also added an interception on a big mistake by Matt Schaub. All his hard work will pay off when he makes the team next Thursday.

Fozzy Whittaker, Carrington Byndom, Donald Hawkins and Trey Hopkins are among the players who will likely continue on their respective teams, but their spots are not 100% certain. In my opinion, the rest of the former Longhorns will make their respective teams.

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