NFL teams must cut their rosters from 90 players to 53 by Sunday, August 30 at 6 p.m. ET. It is the first time the league has held its final cutdown on a Sunday since 2004, and the deadline has been moved up roughly 46 hours from where it would otherwise have fallen.
The reason is a single game. The San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams open the regular season at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the NFL's first regular-season game in Australia. Kickoff is Thursday, September 10 at 5:35 p.m. PT in the United States, which is Friday, September 11 at 10:35 a.m. AEST locally. Both teams need their rosters settled before making the trip.
The by-law that made it possible
Owners passed an amendment at the league's annual spring meeting in March 2026 permitting the league office to "adjust procedures and related dates and deadlines for final roster reduction to accommodate an international game scheduled in the first week of the regular season," per CBS Sports. Without it, the deadline would have stayed on Tuesday, September 1.
The cutdown date has moved around before. From 2005 through 2020 it fell on the Saturday before Labor Day, with a Friday exception in 2012; from 2021 through 2025 it sat on the first Tuesday after the final preseason weekend. The 2026 change is the first driven by the international schedule rather than by the preseason calendar.
What happens after Sunday
Players released before the deadline with fewer than four accrued seasons pass through waivers. Waiver claims are due Monday, August 31 at 1 p.m. ET, and players who clear become free agents. Practice squads must be reported to the league by Monday, August 31 at 6 p.m. ET. Teams may carry a maximum of 16 practice squad players, plus an optional 17th through the International Player Pathway program.
Roughly 1,184 players will be released league-wide, and clubs that want to claim one of them have 19 hours between the roster deadline and the waiver claim deadline to sort through the pool.
The 49ers have already had an unusual camp; the team said it would investigate all factors behind its injury run, including a widely circulated substation theory. The Rams reshaped their defensive front this offseason, acquiring Myles Garrett from Cleveland for Jared Verse and a 2027 first-round pick.
Veterans released at the deadline reach free agency immediately, which is how several of this month's signings came together — among them Keenan Allen's one-year, $8.32 million deal with the Colts.
Source: CBS Sports and the Cincinnati Bengals
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