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Teams in the NFL are required to cut their rosters to 53 players by 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Cuts come earlier this season as teams had three preseason games — not four — to accommodate the 17-game regular season schedule.
The biggest names let go are New England Patriots quarterback Cam Newton and New Orleans Saints running back Devonta Freeman. Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas, Green Bay Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari and Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore will start the season on the the physically unable to perform list.
A week after former first-round pick Josh Rosen signed with the Falcons, the quarterback ended up making the team’s initial 53-man roster.
Here’s a look at the biggest move by each team and all the cuts:
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AFC NORTH
Biggest move: The Browns had several potential special teams stalwarts fighting for the last spots on the 53-man roster, including WR KhaDarel Hodge, LB Elijah Lee and WR JoJo Natson. But in the end, Cleveland elected to keep four running backs instead, including D’Ernest Johnson, who along with rookie RB Demetric Felton, now figures to play a big role in the return game. — Jake Trotter
Waived/released: S Elijah Benton, WR Ja’Marcus Bradley, TE Jordan Franks, OL Colby Gossett, DE Porter Gustin, LB Willie Harvey Jr, WR KhaDarel Hodge, DE Joe Jackson, RB John Kelly, QB Kyle Lauletta, DE Cameron Malveaux, TE Kyle Markway, S Jovante Moffatt, OL Javon Patterson, S Sheldrick Redwine, CB Emmanuel Rugamba, LB Tegray Scales, FB Johnny Stanton IV, OL Alex Taylor, DE Curtis Weaver, DT Marvin Wilson, CB Brian Allen, DT Sheldon Day, LB Elijah Lee, WR JoJo Natson
Reserve/suspended: OG Drew Forbes, OT Greg Senat, WR Davion Davis
AFC SOUTH
Biggest move: The Colts didn’t make any surprise cuts to get their roster down to 53 players. There wasn’t much competition outside of who would be the team’s backup quarterback — or potential starter — during camp. Jacob Eason was the frontrunner for most of training camp over Sam Ehlinger. He officially locked up the position when Ehlinger went down with a knee injury that will keep him out several weeks. Ehlinger’s injury leaves the Colts with just two quarterbacks (Eason and Carson Wentz ) on the roster. It wouldn’t be surprising if they added another one until Ehlinger returns. One intriguing thing the Colts did do is show their premium on having pass-rushers, as they kept six defensive ends on the roster. — Mike Wells
Waived/released: WR Tarik Black, LB Curtis Bolton, DT Andrew Brown, CB Anthony Chesley, DT Kameron Cline, S Shawn Davis, OL Jake Eldrenkamp, TE Farrod Green, WR DeMichael Harris, CB Holton Hill, RB, Deon Jackson, LB Malik Jefferson, Isaiah Kaufusi, RB Benny LeMay, OL Carter O’Donnell, WR Tyler Vaughns, TE Kahale Warring, S Ibraheim Campbell, S Sean Davis, OL Will Holden, QB Brett Hundley, OL Joey Hunt
Reserve/suspended/waived/injured: TE Jordan Thomas, TE Andrew Vollert, DE Dayo Odeyingbo
Biggest move: This was a critical camp for DT Taven Bryan heading into the final year of his rookie contract, and he survived to make the initial roster despite missing time on the non-football injury list and the reserve/COVID-19 list at the beginning of training camp. The team’s 2018 first-round pick has been disappointing and lost his starting job last season to undrafted rookie Doug Costin (who didn’t make the roster this season), but defensive coordinator Joe Cullen raved about Bryan’s strength last week and said he needs to work on finishing plays. — Mike DiRocco
Traded: QB Gardner Minshew II, CB Sidney Jones IV
Waived/released: CB Lorenzo Burns, WR Jalen Camp, DT Doug Costin, WR Jeff Cotton Jr., RB Nathan Cottrell, TE Tyler Davis, TE Ben Ellefson, WR Josh Hammond, WR Collin Johnson, WR Tevin Jones, QB Jake Luton, OL KC McDermott, RB Devine Ozigbo, OL Austen Pleasants, DB Brandon Rusnak, OL Badara Traore, OL Tre’Vour Wallace-Simms and LB Quincy Williams
Released: WR Pharoh Cooper, WR Phillip Dorsett II, OL Jermaine Eluemunor, WR Devin Smith, WR Laquon Treadwell, S Jarrod Wilson
Reserve/injured: S Josh Jones
Reserve/non-football injury: LB Dylan Moses
AFC WEST
Biggest move: The Chiefs, mindful of last year’s Super Bowl disaster, kept 10 offensive linemen and an 11th, Kyle Long, on the physically unable to perform list. Included are eight players who weren’t with the team last year. That should fortify them against the string of line injuries that wound up ruining the end to their 2020 season. — Adam Teicher
Traded: OL Yasir Durant
Waived/released: S Zayne Anderson, CB Dicaprio Bootle, QB Shane Buechele, CB Marlon Character, DT Tyler Clark, DB Rodney Clemons, LB Omari Cobb, WR Gehrig Dieter, DT Austin Edwards, WR Maurice Ffrench, RB Derrick Gore, DE Demone Harris, WR Marcus Kemp, S Devon Key, CB BoPete Keyes, OT Wyatt Miller, WR Cornell Powell, WR Dalton Schoen, WR Darrius Shepherd, LB Emmanuel Smith, RB Darwin Thompson, OT Prince Tega Wanogho, DE Tim Ward, OL Darryl Williams
Reserve/suspended: DL Malik Herring, OL Kyle Long
NFC EAST
Biggest move: There shouldn’t be an immediate shock that the Cowboys’ 53-man roster does not have a long-snapper with Jake McQuaide‘s release, but let’s explain. With six players needing to be on the roster for a day before heading to injured reserve, the Cowboys had to get creative. Dallas has five COVID-19 exemptions for CeeDee Lamb, Connor Williams, Damontae Kazee, Carlos Watkins and Noah Brown. McQuaide, who does not go through waivers because he is a veteran, makes up the last spot and will be re-signed in a day or two and will get his spot back. — Todd Archer
Waived/released: QB Garrett Gilbert, S Darian Thompson, CB Deante Burton, LS Jake McQuaide, OT Eric Smith, TE Jeremy Sprinkle, DT Justin Hamilton, WR Johnnie Dixon, QB Ben DiNucci, WR Osirus Mitchell, WR Reggie Davis, WR Aaron Parker, S Steven Parker, RB Brenden Knox, RB JaQuan Hardy, S Tyler Coyle, fb Nick Ralston, TE Nick Eubanks, TE Artayvious Lynn, DE Austin Faoliu, OL Isaac Alarcon, OL Braylon Jones, WR Brandon Smith, DE Ron’Dell Carter
Reserve/physically unable to perform: DT Trysten Hill
Reserve/non-football injury: WR T.J. Vasher
Reserve/COVID-19: WR CeeDee Lamb, S Damontae Kazee, DT Carlos Watkins, OL Connor Williams, WR Noah Brown
Biggest move: The Giants traded for two interior linemen (Billy Price from the Bengals and Ben Bredeson from the Ravens) in the past two days. They needed to upgrade the line. It was also somewhat surprising they cut outside linebacker Ifeadi Odenigbo after paying him $1 million to sign this offseason and kept two fullbacks. Granted, Cullen Gillaspia is more of a special teamer and Eli Penny doubles as a tailback. Expect more moves to come. New York did leave itself incredibly thin at tight end with Evan Engram (calf) and Kyle Rudolph (foot) questionable for Week 1.— Jordan Raanan
Waived/released: QB Brian Lewerke, RB Corey Clement, RB Sandro Platzgummer, TE Nakia Griffin-Stewart, TE Jake Hausmann, WR Matt Cole, WR David Sills V, WR Damion Willis, OL Chad Slade, OT Jackson Barton, OL Brett Heggie, C Jonotthan Harrison, G Kenny Wiggins, OL Jake Burton, DL David Moa, DL Willie Henry, DL Elijah Qualls, ILB Devante Downs, OLB Ifeadi Odenigbo, OLB Niko Lalos, CB Madre Harper, DB Jordyn Peters, DB Chris Johnson, OLB Ryan Anderson, LS Casey Kreiter
Injured reserve: OL Ted Larsen, WR Alex Bachman, WR Austin Mack
Physically unable to perform: CB Aaron Robinson
Biggest move: The Eagles waived wide receiver Travis Fulgham, who led the team in receiving yards last season with 539. He was one of the most productive wideouts in football over a five-game stretch, catching 29 balls for 435 yards with four touchdowns between Weeks 4-8, but cooled considerably down the stretch. He followed that with an inconsistent training camp. Fulgham has now been waived by three different teams since entering the league with the Detroit Lions in 2019. — Tim McManus
Traded: OL Matt Pryor
Waived/released: S Andrew Adams, T Le’Raven Clark, RB Jordan Howard, DT Hassan Ridgeway, TE Richard Rodgers, CB Kevon Seymour, S Grayland Arnold, OL Kayode Awosika, WR Travis Fulgham, WR John Hightower, RB Jason Huntley, CB Michael Jacquet, CB Craig James, DE Matt Leo, G Sua Opeta, WR Andre Patton, OL Ross Pierschbacher, S Elijah Riley, LB JaCoby Stevens, DT Raequan Williams
Reserve/suspended: S Blake Countess (reserve/injured), DT T.Y. McGill (reserve/COVID-19).
Biggest move: Cutting running back Peyton Barber, because it signals a thought process. Two weeks ago he was a lock. And Barber might return, but Washington wanted to keep youth elsewhere – including undrafted back Jaret Patterson, who impressed during those two weeks. It’s not that Barber is great, but he fit a specific role for them as a short-yardage runner and replacement for Antonio Gibson. But the team remains in a building phase and therefore didn’t make moves designed to win now. It was evident with other players, including tight end Sammis Reyes and defensive end Shaka Toney. Both factor much bigger down the road than now. — John Keim
Waived/released: WR Isaiah Wright, WR Tony Brown, RB Jonathan Williams, OL Jon Toth, DB Linden Stephens, DB Cole Luke, LB Joe Walker, DT Devaroe Lawrence, TE Caleb Wilson, QB Steven Montez, OL David Steinmetz, DE Will Bradley-King, CB Jimmy Moreland, CB Danny Johnson, S Jeremy Reaves, LB Jordan Kunaszyk, OT David Sharpe, DE Bunmi Rotimi, RB Peyton Barber, OL Wes Martin, WR Antonio Gandy-Golden, DE Daniel Wise, DT Gabe Wright, OL Keith Ismael, OL Beau Benzschawel, LB David Mayo, LB Jared Norris
NFC SOUTH
Biggest move: Atlanta kept three quarterbacks on its initial 53-man roster — including former first-round pick Josh Rosen — as it tries to sort out the backup to Matt Ryan. It’s entirely possible that shuffles throughout the next few days as players get released, but it’s another chance for Rosen to learn from a top-flight quarterback after being tutored by Ryan Fitzpatrick and Tom Brady the past two years.— Michael Rothstein
Waived/released: RB Caleb Huntley, WR Chris Rowland, S Dwayne Johnson Jr., DL Eli Ankou, DL Zac Dawe, OLB Tuzar Skipper, LB Kobe Jones, OL Willie Beavers, WR Trevor Davis, S JR Pace II, LB Emmanuel Ellerbee, OL Ryan Neuzil, WR Juwan Green, CB Delrick Abrams, RB D’Onta Foreman, OL Sam Jones, WR Antonio Nunn, TE John Raine, OL Joe Sculthorpe, DL Chris Slayton, OL Kion Smith, ILB Erroll Thompson, TE David Wells, CB Chris Williamson
Waived/injured: P Dom Maggio
Physically unable to perform list: OL Matt Gono
COVID-19 reserve: TE Parker Hesse
Biggest move: Releasing 2019 third-round pick Will Grier might seem obvious because he’s a quarterback, but he was the third option. Don’t be surprised if somebody is added behind Sam Darnold and P.J. Walker, at least to the practice squad. But the biggest move was releasing Joey Slye. Carolina was so confident in the kicker coming into camp that no competition was created. His struggles forced a trade with the Giants last week for Ryan Santoso. So the Panthers will enter the season with a kicker who has no attempts in a regular-season game. It’s a risky proposition.– David Newton
Waived/released: PK Joey Slye, QB Will Grier, LB Josh Bynes. WR Omar Bayless, RB Spencer Brown, DL Frank Herron, OL Mike Horton, CB Jalen Julius, WR Keith Kirkwood, OLB Christian Miller, OL Aaron Monteiro, WR C.J. Saunders, TE Stephen Sullivan, OL Sam Tecklenburg, OT Martez Ivey, WR Ishmael Hyman, LB Jonathan Celestin, RB Darius Clark, S Doug Middleton, RB Reggie Bonnafon, S Kenny Robinson, CB Rashaan Melvin, RB Rodney Smith.
Season-ending IR: LS Thomas Fletcher
Reserve/suspended: CB A.J. Bouye