The NFL deadline for teams to get down to final 53-man rosters is Saturday at 6 PM and already the releases are starting to come, as Tim Tebow, Vince Young, Matt Leinart, J'marcus Webb and Jimmy Clausen have all been cut by their respective teams.
Tebow was a long shot to make the roster despite being very popular with his teammates, as the Patriots have not held onto a third quarterback in three of the past four seasons and even though he threw two touchdowns on Thursday against the Giants, he didn't do enough to keep his roster spot. According to ESPN.com, Tebow was released on Saturday for the last major cut down of the roster after being up and down all offseason, working hard but the results just were not there for coach Bill Belichick to keep him on the roster in one of the crucial 53-man spots.
Tebow completed 11 of 30 passes for 145 yards during the preseason with two touchdown passes and two picks in three games played and he had 91 yards on 16 carries and now will try and figure out what is next. He had 91 passing yards on six of 11 completions and even though he overthrew a number of receivers during his time against the Giants, he completed a few crisp passes, but it wasn't enough to sway Belichick. Brian Hoyer was released last season after not playing in the third preseason game and that happened with Tebow after he did not play against the Lions.
The Patriots decided to keep injured tight end Rob Gronkowski on the 53-man roster, while the Green Bay Packers let go of Vince Young and that makes two quarterbacks from that class done, as Matt Leinart was also released. The Packers like BJ Coleman as the backup for Aaron Rodgers and they also previously released Graham Harrell this week and now he is with the Jets. The Panthers also decided to cut loose Jimmy Clausen after taking him in the second round in 2010 and they will stick with Derek Anderson as Cam Newton's backup and now he has the chance to try and start over after not ever getting a chance with the Panthers.