Quarterbacks Waived On Saturday With Practice Squad Eligibility

It's believed that the Cincinnati Bengals will look at waivers for a young quarterback that they can place on the team's practice squad. The reasoning isn't so much to groom a practice squad player for long-term development, as it is short-term solutions for a contingency if an injury leaves Cincinnati's quarterback depth problematic.

Adapting the quarterback to Jay Gruden's system via the practice squad, shaves the time necessary for that quarterback to learn. Perhaps he develops into something -- predicting the future is outside the scope of our abilities. Realistically, if Andy Dalton were to suffer an injury, the Bengals would start Josh Johnson, sign a free agent veteran to backup Johnson (depending on Dalton's injury), and have the practice squad player in their back-pocket if that player shows enough promise that he could perform. Perhaps that practice squad player will be needed for a week as the new backup transitions. You have to prepare for every scenario and having a quarterback on the practice squad is included.

Zac Robinson was that guy for the past two years, but an elbow and ineligibility leaves him out -- unless the three-week period after PUP and before the deadline to make a move, something happens to place him on the 53-man roster. Before that, the team kept a third quarterback on the 53-man roster, from Dan LeFevour, Jordan Palmer, and even Jeff Rowe.

We take a look at the players that were waived on Saturday with practice squad eligibility. Practice squad rules can be somewhat confusing because a player like Rusty Smith is entering his fourth year with eligibility remaining, whereas Mike Kafka (entering his third season) and Greg McElroy have none. In any case, the teams that waived those quarterbacks will likely make a push to bring them back on their practice squad. Note: This is not the only players available for the practices squad; only those waived on Saturday. There are plenty of free agent rookies out there that haven't caught on with a team yet.