Waivers, Claims and Cut-Down Day

By 4Football Staff · October 1, 2026 · 10 min read

When an NFL team releases a player, other teams may get first call on him. This guide explains waivers, claim priority, vested veterans and the busy cut-down deadline before the season.

In late August, a wave of names starts to move across the sports ticker: a quarterback released by one team, a linebacker claimed off waivers by another, a safety who shows up on a practice squad two days after being cut. To a casual fan, it looks like a blur. To the people involved, it is one of the most consequential stretches of the football year.

Behind the blur is a simple idea. The league lets teams release players whenever they like, but it also protects competitive balance by giving the clubs with the worst records the first opportunity to claim certain released players. That process is called waivers. It operates all year, but it reaches its peak on cut-down day, when every team must trim its roster to the regular-season limit.

This guide explains what waivers are, who has to go through them, how claim priority works, what happens to a player once he is claimed or clears, and how the cut-down deadline concentrates all of it into a few frantic days. As with other roster rules, the details are set by the league and the players' union and can be adjusted, so we flag where to confirm the current figure.

What "waiving" a player means

A team that no longer wants a player has several ways to part with him. It can trade him, it can release him outright, or it can place him on waivers. The word "waive" is often used interchangeably with "cut," and for most young players the two are the same thing: the team informs the league that it is giving up the player's contract, and the league announces the player to all other clubs.

During the waiver period, any other team may claim him. A claim means that the new team takes on the player's existing contract exactly as it stands: the same salary, the same years and any guaranteed money. If no team claims him, the player clears waivers and becomes a free agent, able to sign with anyone, including the team that released him.

That is the heart of it. Waivers are a short window in which released players can be picked up before they reach the open market. The window is brief, normally about a day, so teams act quickly.

Who goes through waivers, and who does not

Not every released player is subject to this process. The key dividing line is experience.

An accrued season is a year in which the player spent enough games on the active roster or certain injury lists, set in the labor agreement at roughly six games or more. A player with four of those seasons is called a vested veteran. Such a player can be cut without going through waivers, so he can sign with a new club the same day if one wants him.

This distinction is why you see two kinds of cut-down stories. Younger players are waived and may be claimed by another team. Veterans are released, and their agents start making calls immediately. Veterans also usually have more protection in their contracts, and the labor agreement gives players with enough service a form of termination pay that applies if they are on the roster when the regular season starts. The exact details are in the agreement, and they matter more to the financial side than to the competitive side, so we describe them only in general terms.

How claim priority works

If more than one team puts in a claim for the same player, the league awards him to the club with the highest waiver priority. Priority follows the standings in reverse: the team with the worst record gets first choice, the team with the second-worst record second, and so on.

A few points about how the order is set:

• In the regular season, the order is updated based on teams' records as the year goes on. A club that starts 0-3 will have a higher claim than a club that starts 3-0, and the order can change as the weeks pass.
• Before the regular season, when there are no meaningful records, the order is based on the previous season's results, using a draft-style order in which the weakest teams are first. That means the clubs that finished at the bottom the year before have the best chance of landing a released player in August.
• Ties in the standings are resolved by a set procedure written into the rules.

The system gives struggling teams a modest edge in finding help. It is not a way to hide a player from other teams; the whole league sees the same list, and every club has the right to put in a claim.

A claim is also not free. The claiming team must have an open spot on its roster, which sometimes forces it to release someone else. A club that wants a waived player badly may cut a lower-priority player just to make room.

What happens after a claim

When a team's claim is successful, several things follow:

1. The player joins the new team and takes over his old contract. If the contract is guaranteed in part, the new club assumes the guarantee.
2. The previous team is released from the contract obligations that transferred to the new one. Money that was already owed may still affect its accounting; the dead money article explains how released-player charges can remain on a salary cap.
3. The player must report and learn a new system. For a rookie who was cut a week ago, that may mean working with a different position coach and a different terminology.
4. The player is not guaranteed a long stay. The new team can release him as well, and he may go back on waivers.

If nobody claims the player, he clears. At that point he can sign with any team, including the one that cut him. Many cut candidates return to the same organization, often on its practice squad. That is not a trick; it is just one option among several.

Waived with an injury designation

Sometimes a team waives a player who is hurt. The player is "waived/injured," and the process has an extra layer. If another team claims him, it takes on the contract and the injury. If he clears, he typically reverts to the original team's injured reserve unless the sides agree to an injury settlement. A settlement is a negotiated payment that covers a period of recovery so the player can be released and sign elsewhere once healthy. The roster and injured reserve guide describes how those lists work in more detail.

Cut-down day

Every year, the league sets a date by which teams must reduce their rosters to the regular-season limit. In the offseason and training camp, clubs may carry up to 90 players, which is why camp rosters seem so large. By the cut-down deadline, usually a Tuesday in late August, the number must drop to 53. Check the league's calendar for the exact date and time in any given year.

A few years ago the process had several steps, with an intermediate deadline between the 90 and the 53. Today it is a single step. That change compressed the work: instead of making a series of smaller decisions, teams now release a large number of players at once. For clubs, the weeks before the deadline are about evaluation, and the last preseason game is one final audition.

The shape of a typical cut-down is predictable in outline, even if the details vary by team.

The decision

Coaches and executives rank players at each position and decide how many of each they want to keep. They think about special teams value, because a backup who covers punts may be worth more than a better player who cannot. They think about contracts, because a drafted player's guaranteed money can complicate a release. They think about injury, because a hurt player who is likely to return can be moved to a reserve list rather than counted against the 53. And they think about the practice squad: some players they cannot keep can be signed there if no other team claims them.

The release

Teams submit their releases to the league by the deadline. For the players who are subject to waivers, the league then opens the claim period. Vested veterans become free agents at once. Dozens of released players start to circulate on a single day, and agents and teams exchange calls.

The claims

Teams with high priority look at the list of released players and decide whom to claim. Many clubs prepare their claim lists before the deadline, because the best available names go quickly. A club may put in claims on several players, but only some are awarded, because the order of priority decides who gets whom.

The practice squad

Once the claim period closes, players who clear waivers can sign with practice squads. Many do so within a day or two. This is the busiest week of the year for the squads, and it is described in the practice squad guide.

The human side of the deadline

It is easy to talk about cut-down day as logistics. For players, it is a day of waiting for a phone call. In many organizations, a player who is asked to come in and meet with the coaches knows what that request can mean. Some are told they have made the team. Others are released and then spend a day wondering whether anyone will claim them. A released player may sign with another club by the weekend, join a practice squad or return home. Some will wait for an injury elsewhere to create an opening. The cycle repeats throughout the season with smaller waves.

We keep the details of individual players out of an evergreen article, but a general point is worth making: a release is not a verdict that a player is bad. Rosters are small and positions are crowded. A team may release a good young player simply because it has a better veteran, or a more useful special-teams player, or because the cap math demands it. A quality player waived by one team often gets a roster spot with another.

For a deeper look at how teams decide who gets the last few spots, read the guide to the gamble of the 53rd man.

Waivers in the regular season

Waivers do not end on cut-down day. Throughout the season, teams waive players for many reasons: an injury creates a need elsewhere, a player underperforms, or a better option becomes available. In-season waivers follow the same rules, with a daily cycle. A team places a player on waivers by a deadline, and other clubs submit claims within a short window. The player is awarded or clears.

In-season claims tend to be quieter than August, but they can matter. A team ravaged by injuries at one position may use its high priority to claim a replacement. A contender looking for a punter or kicker may scan the waiver list weekly. Some of the more interesting stories of a season begin with a claim that looked ordinary.

The league also has a trade deadline during the year, after which clubs cannot trade players for the rest of the season, though they can still use waivers and free agency. For the rules around trades, see the guide on trades, deadlines and pick values.

Not the same as fantasy waivers

If you play fantasy football, you may think of the waiver wire as a place to claim available players with a priority order. Fantasy platforms borrowed the term and some of the logic, including worst-to-first priority in many leagues. But real NFL waivers are not the same. They are tied to contracts and roster spots, and the stakes are different. If you want to learn how the fantasy version works, our fantasy section is a good place to start.

Reading transaction news

When you see a headline about a claim, it helps to ask a few questions.

• Was the player waived or released outright? If he was a veteran, no claim was possible.
• Which team had priority? A claim by a club with a poor record is less surprising than one by a club near the top.
• Why did the new team need him? The answer often points to an injury or to a weakness at a position.
• What happened to the player's contract? A claim means the same contract, not a new one.
• Who was dropped to make room? The move that opens the spot can be as informative as the claim.

The short version

• Waiving a player gives other teams a short window to claim his contract, in priority order from the worst record to the best.
• Players with fewer than four accrued seasons go through waivers; vested veterans are released outright and can sign anywhere at once.
• A claimed player keeps his existing contract, and the claiming team must have a roster spot.
• Clubs cut from 90 to 53 in a single step before the regular season, which is why late August is so busy.
• Players who clear waivers can sign with any team, and many land on a practice squad.
• Confirm exact dates, deadlines and eligibility details in the current league calendar and labor agreement.