27 August 2023 , 20:53
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The Indianapolis Colts have announced that nine players have been released just days before the start of the 2023 NFL regular season.
It is now just two weeks until the start of the new NFL season, with months of hard now in the bag for all 32 teams. The Colts are one of those teams and will have high hopes for 2023, and have confirmed some major moves on their roster.
On Sunday, they announced that nine players would be cut from the team. Seven players have been waived from the roster, while two have been released. The moves come as teams prepare for what is set to be the most brutal cut day yet as rosters are trimmed from 90 down to 53 by Tuesday evening.
Wide receivers Tyler Adams and Kody Case, guard Emil Ekiyor, tight ends Nick Eubanks and Michael Jacobson, kicker Lucas Havrisik, and offensive tackle Matthew Vanderslice have all been waived. It marks the start of the process of the Colts reducing their roster ahead of the new season.
NFL teams have until Tuesday, August 29 to submit a final 53-man roster ahead of the new season. And now the Colts have begun making moves, with two other players being released.
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Running back Kenyan Drake and safety Teez Tabor have both been released. Both players were signed at the start of August, but will now not be part of the franchise going into the new season.
Drake was drafted with the No.73 overall pick by the Miami Dolphins in 2016 but has been moving to a number of teams in recent years. After leaving Miami in 2019, he has played for the Arizona Cardinals, Las Vegas Raiders, and the Baltimore Ravens before being picked up by the Colts this summer.
Tabor was the No.53 pick by the Detroit Lions in the 2017 NFL Draft and has also got a sizable C.V. in terms of franchises he’s represented. After leaving Detroit in 2018, Tabor has played for the Chicago Bears, San Francisco 49ers, Atlanta Falcons, and the Seattle Seahawks.
The Colts now have 81 players on their roster which they must whittle down to 53 before Tuesday’s deadline. That will mean that some major decisions will need to be made by the front office within the next 48 hours.
Indianapolis head coach Shane Steichen will now be busy looking ahead to the Week One opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars on September 10. There is still uncertainty around the future of running back Jonathan Taylor, who was granted permission to secure a trade but reportedly given a deadline of this Tuesday.