When are NFL roster cuts 2025? Deadline date, rules, practice squad salary & more to know

There’s nothing like the NFL, and the league’s roster rules are some of the most unique in all of professional sports.

With robust numbers on offense, defense, and special teams, teams can carry up to 90 players during the offseason, a number that is cut down to 53 before the regular season begins. 

While the roster limit is 53, teams carry much more than that on a week-to-week basis. There are injury lists, with designations of Non-Football Injury, Physically Unable to Perform, and the Injured Reserve, and there are members of the practice squad who don’t take the field on game day. That said, for cuts, the number to remember is 53.

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Teams get down to that number with their annual roster cuts, a tough reality for over 1,000 players each year. Here is everything to know about the NFL roster cuts ahead of the 2025 season.

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When are NFL roster cuts 2025?

53-man roster deadline

• Date: Tuesday, Aug. 26
• Time: 4 p.m. ET

NFL teams must cut their rosters to 53 players by 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Aug. 26. Teams are permitted to keep up to 90 players during training camp and preseason games, allowing for deep rosters and heavy evaluation.

In addition to the 53-man roster, teams can carry a practice squad that features up to 16 players. To be practice-squad eligible, players must meet certain qualifications.

Is there more than one NFL roster cut day?

The 2025 NFL preseason features just one roster cut deadline, a departure from the old standard in which there were multiple cut days.

This changed years ago, as the league used to have multiple cut days throughout the preseason. There once was a time when the league would cut rosters from 90 players to 75 players after two preseason games. From there, another 15 players were cut after the final two games.

More recently, teams were asked to trim five players from the roster after preseason Week 1 and another five after Week 2 before the final cut.

In today’s game, teams must cut their roster from 90 players to 53 at once. This means that as many as 1,184 players can be made available at once.

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NFL roster cut rules

The NFL roster cut rules are fairly straightforward — each NFL team must cut its roster from 90 to 53 players by 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Aug. 26.

Teams can carry fewer than 90 players before that date, and gradual cuts can be made before the deadline, but there is a hard limit for rosters to be cut to 53 players by 4 p.m. ET on Aug. 26.

Here is how the league outlines those rules:

Prior to 4:00 p.m. ET, clubs must reduce rosters to a maximum of 53 players on the Active/Inactive List.

Simultaneously with the roster reduction to 53 players, clubs that have players in the categories of Active/Physically Unable to Perform or Active/Non-Football Injury or Illness must select one of the following options: place player on Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform or Reserve/Non- Football Injury or Illness, whichever is applicable; terminate or request waivers with the designation of Failed Physical or Non-Football Injury or Illness, whichever is applicable; request waivers; terminate contract; trade contract; or continue to count the player on the Active List.

NFL practice squad rules

Teams may carry 16 players on the practice squad; of those 16 players, 10 may not have accrued more than two NFL seasons, while the remaining six players have no limitations.

A team may carry a 17th player if they are from the NFL’s International Pathway Program.

Players who are on the practice squad can be placed on the active roster for games no more than three times during the regular season. The team must sign the player to the 53-man roster should they want to call him up a fourth time.

Here are the qualifications for players on the practice squad:

• Players who do not have an accrued season of NFL experience (rookies);
• Players who were on the active list for fewer than nine regular-season games during their only accrued season(s);
• Up to four players per team who have earned no more than two accrued seasons (no game limitations);
• Up to six players per team with no limitations as to their number of earned accrued seasons.

A player on a practice squad may not sign a contract to join another team’s practice squad, but they may sign a standard deal to join another team’s 53-man roster. These reasons are why practice squads are fluid throughout any given season.

Teams can protect up to four players on their practice squad weekly. Teams are not allowed to sign those protected players.

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NFL practice squad salaries

The NFL has separate salary scales for practice squad players.

Players with two or fewer accrued seasons of NFL service have a fixed weekly salary. That amount has been determined yearly through the 2030 season, which is when the current CBA expires.

Players with two or more years of NFL service have negotiating power with practice squad contracts. Those deals begin at $17,500 weekly and max out at $22,000 for the 2025 season.