It is going to be a busy weekend in the NFL. Not only is it the final weekend of preseason play, but all 32 teams are going to have to make their final cuts, and they’re going to have to make those moves by Sunday at 6 p.m. ET when the cut deadline hits.
By the time that rolls around, a total of 1,184 players will have been released. During the preseason, NFL teams are allowed to carry 90 players on their roster, but every team must reduce that number to 53 by the deadline.
The NFL’s 32 teams usually get a small breather between their final preseason game and the cut deadline, but that won’t be happening this year. Back in May, the league announced that the cut deadline would he happening on Sunday, Aug. 30, which is mostly notable because cut day almost never happens on a Sunday.
As a matter of fact, this will mark the first time in 22 years that the NFL cut deadline has been held on a Sunday. Over the past four years (2021-25), the deadline was set for the first Tuesday after the final preseason weekend. From 2005 through 2020, cut day was always held on the Saturday before Labor Day, except in 2012, when it was held on the Friday before Labor Day.
The last time it was held on a Sunday came all the way back in 2004.
Why the NFL changed the date this year
When the NFL makes a big change, there’s always a reason for it, and we have no exception here. It was pretty clear that a change was likely after the owners voted to amend a by-law at the NFL’s annual spring meeting in March. The policy change flew under the radar, but it’s certainly worth noting now.
The new by-law permits “the League office to adjust the procedures and related dates and deadlines for the final roster reduction to accommodate an international game scheduled in the first week of the regular season.”
In layman’s terms, this means that if there’s an international game in Week 1, the league office is allowed to change the date for final cuts, and that’s exactly what’s happening this year.
With the 49ers and Rams playing in Australia in Week 1, there was no way the NFL could stick to its normal schedule, with cut day falling on the first Tuesday after the final preseason weekend, which would have been Sept. 1 this year. If that had been the deadline, waiver claims would have been due on Sept. 2 and that would have created an issue because the 49ers are flying to Melbourne on Sept. 2. It wouldn’t have been fair to ask them to fill out their practice squad, make waiver claims and potentially sign free agents while they’re on a 14-hour flight to Australia, so the NFL decided to move the cut deadline to Aug. 30.
Going forward, it won’t be surprising if the NFL moves cut day back to the Tuesday deadline, but if there is an international game in Week 1, the league has given itself some leeway to change the date for final cuts if that’s what needs to be done.
Although the NFL is moving the deadline for final cuts to accommodate teams traveling to Australia, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan still isn’t thrilled that his team will essentially miss out on several rest days due to their travel schedule.
“Everyone gets that bye week after your fourth week [of preseason],” Shanahan said back in May. “The whole NFL gets three bonus practices and four mandatory days off. We’re traveling on that third day to Australia, so you kind of miss that week to recover and to have those days off and those bonus days. So, it ends up being about a week different than usual.”
The 49ers are dealing with more injuries than almost any other team, so they could certainly have used the extra rest days, but now, they won’t be getting them. If the 49ers sign anyone to their active roster after Sept. 2, that player will have to get to Australia, which adds another interesting twist to cut day. As for the Rams, they’re planning to fly Down Under just one day before the game, so they won’t be in such a rush next week when it comes to potentially signing any free agents.
