Today is one of the toughest days of the year as every NFL team will need to be down to 53 active players by 4PM this afternoon. By my count of official transactions there will be 999 players who will be cut or placed on some type of reserve list by the end of the business day. Here is a quick look at how many moves must be made by each team:

It is important to note that rarely will the roster at 4PM today actually be the final 53 man roster for a team. Players are not paid a weeks salary until the Tuesday of game week which means teams are under no obligation to anyone. Teams will make waiver claims for some of the released players and have to make a corresponding release to someone who “made the 53 man”. Teams will activate players who did not report and have to make another release to account for that. Teams will see veterans who are cut and perhaps sign them as well. The real 53 man roster really hits on September 3rd.

There will always be some releases that also catch people off guard. Usually these are veteran players on lower cost contracts who were expected to make the team. These releases are often done due to various circumstances regarding the team they play for. Though rules have changed a bit regarding injury returns (teams are allowed to designate two players to return from IR if placed on IR today and designated to return) most teams want flexibility with the return from IR rule. That requires putting an injured player on the 53 man for a day and then placing him on the reserve list tomorrow. To make room for that player often a veteran, who is not subject to waivers, will be cut for a day and then re-signed when the injured player is actually placed on IR.

Many teams also have no intention of guaranteeing a veteran player’s salary when that veteran is more of a bubble player. Teams want the flexibility of cutting a veteran during the year with limited financial penalty. A base salary guarantee for the year kicks in if the veteran player is on the 53 man roster for the 1st game of the year. To avoid that base guarantee teams will cut a veteran player, place him on the practice squad for a week, elevate him from the practice squad for week 1, and then sign him to a regular contract in week 2. A contract signed after week 1 does not carry the full salary guarantee protection.

Non-veteran players who are cut are all subject to waivers. Teams have until noon tomorrow to make a claim on those players. If claimed their contracts will transfer to the team who claimed them. If they go unclaimed they are eligible to be signed to a Practice Squad. Teams can start to fill their practice squad as soon as the waiver period expires. Generally teams are most active in the next 48 hours when it comes to waiver claims. Sometimes teams will stash a player on the 53 man with hopes of moving him to their practice squad by sneaking him through waivers next week or after the first game when teams are more focused on prepping for their games and not looking to bring another guy in.

Another important thing to note is that cutdown day does not mark the change of offseason salary cap rules where just the top 51 players count against the cap. That does not happen until the first day of the season at which point every player on a reserve list, practice squad, active roster, etc…will count against the salary cap. At OTC we will make that switch earlier to give a more accurate picture of where every team stands with the salary cap. It is possible that some teams will show they are over the cap when we do that. Technically those teams are all fine within the official NFL rules but it can give you a better idea of who does and does not need to make contract modifications to comply with the salary cap when the NFL changes the rules.

Finally please bear with us as we work through all of the roster changes. Hopefully we will work through them by late tonight but it can take some extra time to process so many transactions. The practice squad will also take some time and there is often a big delay between a team releasing on X a practice squad or leaking to media members about signings and then actually signing the player. Rather than getting names wrong, which can often happen, we generally wait until the signing is official to get them onto the roster for the team.