Wright Remains a 49er as Clubs Play Shell Game With Rosters : Pro football: Highsmith traded to Cowboys. Hogeboom and Carter are victims of the final cutdown to 47.

A strange thing happened to San Francisco 49er cornerback Eric Wright on Monday. He wasn’t cut.

Another strange one happened to Houston Oiler running back Alonzo Highsmith, who had been mentioned in a rumor about a three-corner trade involving Dallas linebacker Jesse Solomon and New York Giant linebacker Lawrence Taylor. Highsmith became a Cowboy, being reunited with his college coach, Jimmy Johnson. But Solomon remained a Dallas holdout and Taylor remained one with the Giants.

It was all part of the maneuvering of cutdown Monday, the final day for NFL clubs to reduce their rosters to 47 players. That’s 47 names, not necessarily the 47 who will line up for this weekend’s season-openers.

For example, the 49ers probably will have a punter by then. They didn’t on Monday, cutting Barry Helton. And the Cowboys will probably have a kicker, though they cut Keith Willis. And the Detroit Lions probably will have somebody backing up Barry Sanders, though all their other backs were waived.

“We hope Willis is not claimed,” Johnson said. “We looked at our roster to see where we are safest. We should be able to re-obtain rights to these players tomorrow.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you see a few of these guys back here in the future,” Detroit Coach Wayne Fontes said.

To some extent, the final cutdown day has become a game itself, clubs trying to get players passed through the waiver system to get them 24 hours later so that others can be moved onto the injured reserve list, to be retrieved during the season. Under NFL rules, a player who is placed on injured reserve before the final cutdown date is lost for the season.

For example, Wright spent Sunday telling reporters that he was being cut by the 49ers. He spent Monday practicing with them after teammate linebackers Keena Turner and Jim Fahnhorst were waived.

“We never made an announcement that we were going to do that (waive Wright),” said John McVay, the 49ers’ vice president for football administration. “We had Eric come in, sit down and we explained the various options with him. (Waiving Wright) was an option.”

Instead, San Francisco waived Turner, a member of the team’s four Super Bowl squads; Fahnhorst, a member of the team since 1984; Helton and 10 others.

Helton has a 39.8-yard average for 133 punts over the last two years, and the 49ers want him back. “I would have to say it’s a calculated gamble,” McVay said.

If San Francisco loses the gamble, it has less than a week to find a punter for its regular-season opener Monday night against New Orleans.

Wright, 31, has been plagued by hamstring problems throughout training camp and could be placed on injured reserve, opening a spot to re-acquire Helton. Wright would miss three games.

“I could live with that,” he said.

Highsmith cost the Cowboys two draft choices and fills the running back void Dallas has had since trading Herschel Walker to the Vikings last season. He also places pressure on Emmitt Smith, the Cowboys No. 1 pick in the draft, who has not signed.

The Oilers’ No. 1 draft pick in 1987, Highsmith was under-utilized in an offense that had four players competing for one position.

The third player in the draft, defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy, ended a holdout and signed with the Seattle Seahawks, leaving Smith, linebacker Chris Singleton of New England and tight end Eric Green of Pittsburgh as the only unsigned draft choices.

Others players were simply cut, many of them veterans.

“This is the worst day of the year in football,” Giant linebacker Gary Reasons said. “It’s hard to see guys you’ve been friends with a long time let go. It will happen to all of us one day.”

Reasons’ teammate Joe Morris, the Giants’ leading career rusher, was caught in a glut of running backs that includes top pick Rodney Hampton and Lewis Tillman. But he really lost out to 33-year-old Ottis Anderson, kept because he’s a better receiver, blocker and short-yardage runner. Last year, Anderson rushed for more than 1,000 yards after Morris broke a foot in the last exhibition game.

“I think Joe Morris has made a very significant and continuous contribution to this club, and to the Bill Parcells regime,” Coach Bill Parcells said of Morris, who rushed for 5,296 yards in eight years. “In the length of time that I have been here he is one of several guys who has driven the car and not been a passenger.”

It was a bad day overall for the Morris family--Joe’s brother Jamie, signed by New England from Washington as a Plan B free agent, was cut.

Others released were Cris Carter, who caught 45 passes for Philadelphia last season, 11 for touchdowns; Eagle reserve quarterback Matt Cavanaugh; Gary Hogeboom, Phoenix’s only veteran quarterback; Buford Jordan, New Orleans’ starting fullback the past four years; and running backs Darrin Nelson, Thomas Sanders and Tim Spencer by San Diego.

Dallas cut three running backs it recently acquired: Timmy Smith, who rushed for a record 205 yards for Washington in the 1988 Super Bowl and former No. 1 picks Terrence Flagler and Lorenzo Hampton.

Donald Igwebuike, Tampa Bay’s all-time leading scorer, lost his kicking job to free agent Steve Christie. The Bucs also cut Lars Tate, their leading rusher the last two years. Matt Bahr, the 11-year kicker for the Browns, was beaten out by Jerry Kauric, a Canadian league veteran.

Cleveland also cut quarterback Pat Ryan, linebackers Clifford Charlton and Larry McGrew and defensive end Daryl Sims.

The New York Jets traded fullback Roger Vick, a three-year starter, to Philadelphia for draft choices. The Jets also named Ken O’Brien the starting quarterback over Tony Eason, and the Bears designated Jim Harbaugh ahead of Mike Tomczak, although Coach Mike Ditka stressed the Bears “are still a two-quarterback team.”

Cincinnati placed running back Ickey Woods on the physically unable to perform list. Still recovering from knee surgery, he will miss at least six games.

Dave Duerson, the former Pro Bowl safety cut by the Bears, was reportedly set to sign with the Giants, who lost starting strong safety Adrian White to a season-ending knee injury Saturday night.

Hogeboom’s being cut by the Cardinals leaves them with only Timm Rosenbach and Tom Tupa at quarterback.

“It surprises me that they’re only going with two young quarterbacks, but that’s for them to decide,” said Hogeboom, whose $800,000-plus salary may have been a factor. “With two young quarterbacks, it’s going to be hard. That’s what they want to do.”