Pro Football Rumors
Never settling for complacency, the NFL has constantly made changes and updates to the league year’s schedule throughout its history, and two changes this year will force quick turnarounds for personnel departments. These changes affect two of the biggest days for roster change in the NFL: the final roster cut deadline and the first days of free agency.
It wasn’t long ago that the league went by a schedule that featured more than one roster cut deadline throughout the preseason to gradually force teams to reduce their 90-man offseason rosters to the 53-man rosters with which they would start the season. In 2017, the NFL nixed the deadline to go from 90 to 75 players and changed to a single deadline in what was viewed as an effort to reduce the number of injuries to key players in the final week of the preseason.
The nine roster cut deadlines we’ve seen since then have all occurred on the Tuesday after the final weekend of preseason games, giving front offices a few days after their final exhibition contest to determine their final roster decisions. This year, the third and final weekend of the preseason will take place from Thursday, August 27, to Saturday, August 29. Per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, the deadline to get down to 53 players will be less than 24 hours after the final preseason game ends, at 6pm EST on Sunday, August 30.
The league also shortened the time between final roster cuts and the deadline to submit waiver claims. Previously, final roster cuts were due by 4pm on Tuesday and waiver claims by 12pm the next day — a 20 hour turnaround. This year, waiver claims will be due 1pm EST on Monday, August 31, 19 hours after the roster cut deadline.
The change in the start of free agency is actually a change of the process’s timing in relation to the NFL Scouting Combine. In previous years, the combine would take place over the final week of February just bleeding into March. A week or so later, the “legal tampering” window would open 52 hours before the start of the new league year, the official start of free agency. Pelissero reported today that, with the combine getting pushed back, the final day of the event will be Monday, March 8, and the free agent negotiating window will open the next day, Tuesday, March 9.
This is sure to make the NFL Scouting Combine a much more lively event. Aside from the obvious purpose of evaluating draft prospects, the combine has historically been an unofficial space in which top team executives and agents can meet to gauge interest in players and prices. Now that free agents will be able to come to verbal agreements a day after the combine ends, one would imagine activity will pick up in the halls of Lucas Oil Stadium.
