Dallas Cowboys roster cuts: Lirim Hajrullahu the first player out as team trims down to 80

Every team in the NFL has to be down to 80 players on their roster by Tuesday afternoon and while the Dallas Cowboys got a head start on things getting down from 95 to 80 a week ago they have taken a little bit more time with this round.

One factor worth remembering is that the Cowboys are not necessarily focused on keeping the 80 best players if that makes sense. They still have to get through a final preseason game and given the fact that they will be resting a lot of starters and important contributors they have to maintain enough bodies to play a game.

The roster cuts did officially begin around lunchtime though and the first name was a bit surprising again given the fact that there is still a preseason contest left to be played. According to The Dallas Morning News the Cowboys are waiving kicker Lirim Hajrullahu.

Hajrullahu was brought back by the Cowboys in the early days of July after spending one game on the roster last season (he was a perfect 5/5 on extra points and did not attempt any field goals). He outlasted rookie undrafted free agent Jonathan Garibay, but both kickers struggled mightily while the team was out in Oxnard and ultimately found themselves off of the roster before the preseason was even over.

While still in California though the Cowboys did bring in another kicker and a familiar one at that. Brett Maher was brought back and he has been alright through the preseason, but his shaky past with the team makes him difficult to trust.

The Cowboys still have four roster moves to make, but they don’t all have to be departures. Tuesday is the first day that teams can apply the Reserve/PUP designation to players and that is an option with Michael Gallup so we will see what Dallas does.

Update: 2:16pm ET

Shortly after the Lirim news came out ESPN reported the remaining four roster cuts by the Cowboys.

It is a big day for Peyton Hendershot supporters.