Hang around an
NFL locker room on cut-down day - which usually follows the final exhibition game - and you might see a few tears.
You'll certainly see a few rough and rugged football players struggle after having their dreams differed, if not shattered.
Courtney Bryan has been there before. The
Dolphins safety knows exactly where he stands considering he entering Thursday night's exhibition game against New Orleans: on the bubble for the third straight year with the exact same team.
Bryan is the last safety on the totem pole, which means no matter how much his game has improved - and it has - it's a long shot he'll make the team's 53-man roster unless the coaches somehow decide it's beneficial to keep five safeties.
About a dozen Dolphins players are in a similar position, living life on the bubble, trying to make the NFL as a core player, special-teamer or practice-squad member.
"It's hard living on the edge, especially when you see people come and go all the time," said Bryan, who was making roast beef sandwiches at Arby's before the Dolphins re-signed him in November, three months after initially cutting him at training camp's conclusion. "This is what you sign up for when you're trying to live out your dream of playing in the NFL, so you take the good with the bad."
Bryan admits sometimes it gets overwhelming living life out of a suitcase, watching teammates and friends get shuffled around, waiting and wondering if you're next.
