How do NFL waivers work? What cutdown day means for 32 practice squads

One of the more interesting parts in the final stages of the NFL's preseason is taking place on Sunday. Roster cuts and official 53-man rosters are due by 6 p.m. ET. With it, players will learn their fate and will ultimately be categorized into three different transactions: cut, waived or traded. Not all players that are cut are considered waived or hit the waiver wire. This distinction is one of the more interesting one and is a spectacle throughout the regular season.

So what is the difference between a player getting cut and a player getting waived and how does the waiver wire actually work? Well you've come to the right spot for those answers and many more about the waiver wires functionally, why it exists and how teams use it.

How do NFL waivers work

The NFL waiver wire is a pretty straightforward yet involved method for adding players to your roster. The only players eligible for the waiver wire are players that have less than four vested years of NFL service. Any veteran with more than four years of experience gets released outright and not sent to the waiver wire. Once a player is waived, they’ll be on the waiver wire for 24 hours for a team to claim them. 

Once a player is waived, depending on the waiver order, teams can claim them, meaning they will then pick up their contract. After the 24 hour period, if a player goes unclaimed, they will then become an unrestricted free agent and will be free to sign with a new team or practice squad. A player cannot be claimed off the waiver wire and sent to the practice squad, they have to clear waivers first.

The NFL's current waiver order, explained

Unlike fantasy football, where the waiver order changes every week, the waiver order is the same order in the NFL. Whatever the NFL Draft order is, that becomes the waiver order through the preseason and first three weeks of the season – this does not include draft day trades. Once the season starts, after Week 3, the new waiver order follows the current standings model. 

This means that teams that are at the bottom of the standings can stockpile waiver wire players if they wanted, assuming they still remain at the front of the order. The waiver order only changes after Week 3, it doesn’t continue to rotate after that, meaning if a team turns things around they could be one of the better teams in the NFL and still have a really good waiver wire position too.

The best NFL waiver candidates available

One of the more surprising names on this list include Mazi Smith, an interior defensive lineman formerly of the New York Jets. Smith was sent to New York via the Quinnen Williams trade with the Dallas Cowboys. Smith was merely a salary dumb for Dallas and never found his footing in New York. Though he never bounced back with his new team, it was shocking considering he had the opportunity to revive his career and simply didn’t. Another player that was a shock was Cedric Tillman. 

It’s not a shock in the sense that Cleveland has Denzel Boston and KC Concepcion now, but a shock in that he was a solid depth option at a position they could use depth. It makes sense they had to make a change, which is why it’s not too much of a shock, but again a move that clears the way for them to add depth elsewhere. 

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