On Saturday at 3:00 p.m. CST, all 32 NFL teams must be trimmed to 53 players. But don’t expect all cuts to come right at the deadline. There will be many cuts on Friday as well as Saturday.
Teams can lay waiver claims on other teams’ players who were cut, so all is not lost for those who receive a pink slip. This means 320 of those 1,100 players will be assigned to a Practice Squad on Sunday, which we’ll explain in a moment.
One important aspect of Saturday’s deadline to remember: if a team wants to place any player on Injured Reserve to start the season, but re-activate him at any point over the course of the season, he must be on the initial 53-man roster.
In 2018, this happened with strong safety Daniel Sorensen. This year, defensive end Breeland Speaks is a strong candidate for this designation after his knee surgery earlier this week. Speaks can then be placed on IR on Sunday, making him ineligible for at least eight weeks. This would also open up another roster spot for one of the 37 players that was cut the day before.
Wide receiver Gehrig Dieter is another interesting subject because he has missed the entire preseason with an injury. Like Speaks, Dieter would need to make the 53-man in order to retain eligibility to play in 2019 after an IR stint. A greater likelihood for Dieter is that he is placed on IR before 3:00 p.m. on Saturday and therefore misses all of 2019, like wideout Byron Pringle in 2018. Dieter has spent two seasons on the Practice Squad and is not eligible for a third year.
So what happens after Saturday afternoon?