Breaking Down The 75 Remaining Falcons

I was watching the Saints game the other night (because football) and one of the commentators said an interesting thing about Sean Payton. He groups his players into three categories in the preseason: The definites, the maybes, and the nopes. Those are my terms, I don't know what Payton uses. He does that so he can put everyone but the maybes out of his mind. Seems like a cool idea.

In that case, let's break the Falcons roster down this way and see where some of your favorite players stand! Of course, most of your favorite players are in the "definite" pool, but TOO BAD, WE'RE DOING IT THIS WAY. In the spirit of the US Open starting today, we'll make them tennis references!

Definites: Roger Federer Division

No matter how badly you might want to, you can't sleep on Federer, who's always a threat to win until he's 75.

These players have a 100% assured spot on the team, no questions asked.

QB - Matt Ryan, Dominique Davis

RB - Steven Jackson, Jacquizz Rodgers

WR - Roddy White, Julio Jones

TE - Tony Gonzalez, Chase Coffman

OL - Sam Baker, Justin Blalock, Peter Konz, Joe Hawley, Garrett Reynolds, Lamar Holmes

DE - Osi Umenyiora, Kroy Biermann

DT - Peria Jerry (thanks Coach Smith), Jonathan Babineaux, Corey Peters

LB - Sean Weatherspoon, Stephen Nicholas

CB - Asante Samuel, Desmond Trufant, Robert Alford, Robert McClain

S - Thomas DeCoud, William Moore

Other - Josh Harris, Matt Bryant, Matt Bosher

Players: 30

There are a couple odd names in this group, but they're there for a reason.

Maybes: John Isner Division

You never know what you're going to get with John Isner. There's some huge potential there, but sometimes it flames out. He is also the best American currently, for those interested. Also graduated from UGA.

There are different levels of maybe in this division. Some are closer to a 10 (definitely staying) like Snelling, while others may not be so high. These are also players I think don't have a 100% definite spot on the team. Their chances range from 99% to 1%. This should, in theory, represent most of the players.

QB - Sean Renfree

RB - Jason Snelling, Ronnie Wingo, Antone Smith

FB - Bradie Ewing, Patrick DiMarco

WR - Darius Johnson, Harry Douglas, Drew Davis, Kevin Cone

TE - Levine Toilolo

OL - Ryan Schraeder, Terren Jones, PK Manley, Harland Gunn, Jacques McClendon

DL - Travian Robertson, Micanor Regis, Malliciah Goodman, Stansly Maponga, Cliff Matthews, Jonathan Massoquoi

LB - Pat Schiller, Paul Worrilow, Joplo Bartu, Akeem Dent, Robert James

CB - Dominique Franks, Peyton Thompson, Terrence Johnson

S - Charles Mitchell, Zeke Motta, Kemal Ishmael, Shann Schillinger

Players: 34

Nopes: Caleb Rutherford Division

These guys (much as I might want them to succeed) have as much chance of making the 53 man roster as I do winning the US Open. THAT SAID, these guys, notably one particular LB, could make the practice squad. I'm not as confident in my OL/DT picks as I am the rest, because I don't watch them that closely.

RB - Josh Vaughan

TE - Andrew Szczerba

OL - Alec Savoie, Theo Goins

WR - James Rodgers, Martel Moore

DL - Neal Huynh, Adam Replogle

CB - Jordan Mabin

LB - Brian Banks

Other - Jeremy Shelley

Players: 11

That's how I have the roster broken down at this point. It'll be interesting to see which of the maybes makes the team and I'm relatively confident that the nopes won't make the team, save for the lines. Who knows how that'll work.

Thoughts on this list? Would you make any changes to the list, or do you have players in different categories? Who makes up your practice squad at this point?