Tim Hasselbeck recalls getting cut during 'Hard Knocks'

Retired NFL quarterback and current ESPN and ACC Network football analyst Tim Hasselbeck again opened up about being cut by former Baltimore Ravens head coach Brian Billick during filming for the "Hard Knocks" documentary series. 

"I’m sitting there and Brian Billick’s like, 'Hey man, this doesn’t mean it’s forever, but it’s just not with us,'" Hasselbeck explained during a Wednesday appearance on "The Dan Patrick Show," per the Barrett Sports Media website. "To make it worse — literally to make it worse — I don’t know if it was scripted to totally humiliate me. There was a big van; like a coach bus that probably seats 65 people. I rode it by myself to the airport. I was like, 'How much salt do you want to pour into the wound, fellas?'" 

As noted by the TVDB website, NFL Films and HBO featured the Ravens for the debut season of "Hard Knocks" back in the summer of 2001. While Hasselbeck probably would've preferred for this low moment from his playing career to have remained private and behind closed doors, he admitted on Wednesday he wasn't shocked to learn he didn't make Baltimore's final roster ahead of regular-season play. 

"I actually knew I wasn’t going to make the team," Hasselbeck responded when asked if there was an easier or worse way for NFL franchises to cut players each summer. "It was Randall Cunningham, Elvis Grbac [and] Chris Redman was there. I was a camp arm for sure." 

As shared by ESPN, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers cutting then-kicker Roberto Aguayo during filming for "Hard Knocks" in 2017 remains one of the most memorable and most brutal moments in the program's history. 

After that segment aired, Hasselbeck appeared on ESPN's "NFL Live" and acknowledged being cut in front of "Hard Knocks" cameras is humiliating even when the player knows the decision is coming: