The NFL’s roster cut schedule for preseason remains unchanged from last year.
If you don’t remember 2021, the league tweaked the process following the reduction from four preseason games to three, with cuts occurring after each game. On Tuesday the league approved the same thing for 2022, which is as follows:
- Roster reduction from 90 to 85: 4 pm New York Time on Tuesday, August 16
- Roster reduction from 85 to 80: 4 pm New York Time on Tuesday, August 23
- Roster reduction from 80 to 53: 4 pm New York Time on Tuesday, August 30
The deadline for claiming players who are subject to waivers is 12 pm ET on Wednesday, August 31st. After that deadline is passed, teams can start forming their practice squads.
From 2017-2019 (pre-COVID, obviously), teams actually got to keep their 90-man roster and then had one big cutdown day to 53 after the final preseason game. Preceding that was the more familiar cutdown to 75 players ahead of the preseason finale, then the chop to 53 after the end of preseason.
During the 2020 COVID year, training camp rosters had to be trimmed to 80 players by mid-August and then a big cut to 53 the week before the regular season opener. No preseason games were played so that was a bit of a one-off. It looks as if the NFL’s new roster limit regulations are here to stay.