There are a number of important dates on the horizon in the NFL and I thought it would be useful to have a handy guide to when these happen and what they mean.
August 27 - First cut down day - Teams must reduce rosters to a max of 75 players on their active list.
August 31 - Final cut down day - Teams must reduce rosters to a max of 53 players on their active/inactive list.
September 1 - The waiver period for players cut the previous day expires at noon. So any player that was not claimed is an unrestricted free agent and can sign with any team. Teams may also begin to build their practice squad. The practice squad rules are as follows:
Clubs may establish a Practice Squad of eight players by signing free agents who do not have an accrued season of free agency credit or who were on the 46-player Active List for less than nine regular season games during each of any Accrued Seasons. A player cannot participate on the Practice Squad for more than three seasons.
More after the jump
September 4 - All teams must be under the salary cap.
October 16 - NFL trade deadline. Also players on PUP may begin practicing.
November 13th - Deadline for any franchise player or restricted free agent that has been tendered to sign a contract. If they don't, they can not play in the league this year.
Any other dates you had any questions about?