A brief reminder about this year’s NFL cutdown dates

We’re just a week (and a day) away from the preseason opener for the Minnesota Vikings when they take on the Las Vegas Raiders. Not long after that, the Vikings and everyone else will have to start making cuts in their efforts to lock in their 53-man rosters.

This year, there will be three cutdown dates in the National Football League. They all fall on Tuesdays, 48 hours after all of the preseason games for that particular weekend have been completed. Here are those dates and how far the rosters need to be trimmed:

• Cutdown Day #1: 16 August 2022, 3:00 PM Central time, rosters trimmed from 90 to 85
• Cutdown Day #2: 23 August 2022, 3:00 PM Central time, rosters trimmed from 85 to 80
• Cutdown Day #3: 30 August 2022, 3:00 PM Central time, rosters trimmed from 80 to 53

After those final cuts, teams will be able to make waiver claims for 24 hours to put players that had been let go onto their 53-man rosters, with sufficient time given to make room for those players. After that, teams will be able to start signing players to their 16-man practice squads starting at 11:00 AM Central time on Wednesday, 31 August.

Players that are still on the Physically Unable to Perform or Non-Football Injury/Illness lists after the cuts to 53 will remain on those lists and be forced to miss their team’s first four games. It used to be six, but apparently now it’s four.

Also, any player that is placed on injured reserve on or after 31 August can be designated to return at some point during the season. Players placed on IR before that will be considered done for the year.

We just wanted to make sure everyone was informed as to when there were roster cuts coming so that they don’t come as a surprise. We’ll be tracking all of the roster moves that the Vikings make during camp, and we’ll do our best to have them to you as quickly as possible.