NFL roster cuts: 2022 deadlines and more

In preparation for the upcoming 2022 NFL season, trainers from all around the NFL will be taking a close, close look at their teams’ rosters as teams compete in preseason games to finalize their rosters.
While the majority of teams have their 53-man roster cuts planned out, there is still the question of selecting the 37 players who will be placed on waivers from the 90-man rosters that now make up all 32 NFL teams. Prior to the last preseason game, there will be three separate cut days, so there will be plenty of opportunity for unexpected cuts, experienced additions, and other changes.
The information below will teach you all you need to understand about practice squad regulations, roster cutdown days, and more:

NFL roster cuts in 2022:

53-man roster cutoff

Tuesday, August 30
ET time: 4 p.m.
Every NFL team must restrict the number of players on its roster to 53 by Tuesday, August 30. That means the roster cuts may make the teams carry up to 90 players during the preseason, but they must reduce that number to 53 players in three phases for the regular season.

NFL practice groups will begin to come into prominence after that, in regard to the 53-man roster. Teams are permitted to keep 16 players on their practice squad (subject to certain requirements) (more on practice squads below).

NFL teams will trim their rosters in the upcoming weeks with two other deadlines in addition to the primary cut day

85-man roster cutoff

Tuesday, August 16, 4:00 p.m. ET deadline for 80-man rosters

Time: 4 p.m. Date: Tuesday, August 23, ET
NFL cut regulations for rosters

By Tuesday, August 30, every NFL team must reduce its roster from 80 to 53 players. As seems to be the situation with the majority of NFL teams, changes may be done throughout the days and week, building towards the deadline rather than all at once.

During the summer and during the regular season, participants who are on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) or Non-football Injury (NFI) lists do not count toward the 90- or 53-man roster. On the 53-man roster, space must be made after a player is reinstated from a list.

A player who is still listed as PUP is not able to play again until after the team’s sixth regular-season contest. The season is over for players who are put on Injured Reserve (IR) before the final cut day.

NFL team practices guidelines

Teams may carry 16 players on their practice squads in 2022. Of the 16 players, ten may very well have no more than two NFL seasons under their belts, while the remainder is unrestricted (veterans).

No more than three times throughout the regular season may practice squad players be promoted to the active/game-day roster. A player must be moved from the practice squad to the 53-man roster if they are made active on game day four times.

The following requirements apply to the practice squad:

  • NFL rookies, or players without a season’s worth of NFL history;
  • athletes whose sole season(s) of eligibility was/were one in which they played in fewer than nine regular-season games;
  • No game restrictions; maximum of four players per club with no more than two seasons’ worth of earnings;
  • There is no cap on the maximum number of players per squad or the total number of seasons they have already earned. Players on a team’s practice squad are not permitted to sign an agreement with the practice squad of another team. Rather, the player must be signed to a 53-man roster spot by the signing team. At any time throughout the season, those players are free to sign with another team.

Weekly basis, the league’s active roster may protect up to four players; other teams are not permitted to sign protected practice squad players.

 

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