How this year’s NFL roster cutdown is different than years past

NFL teams must cut their 90-man rosters down to 53 by 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday Aug. 27. Over the next day, all 32 teams will combine to complete over 1,200 transactions as they attempt to assemble a group that will help them make a run at a Super Bowl.

Some teams like the Buffalo Bills, who released seven players Sunday, have already begun the process of trimming their rosters.

Follow the moves with The Athletic’s NFL roster cutdown tracker.

Here’s everything you need to know about cutdown day:

What’s the same?

Like every year, teams will need to trim their rosters to 53 men, either by trading, waiving, releasing or placing players on the PUP, NFI or injured reserve lists by 4 p.m. ET.

What’s different?

A new NFL rule will eliminate some of the roster manipulation around the NFL on cut day (Tuesday). In the past, if a team wanted to put a player on injured reserve and keep the option open for a return during the season, he had to make the initial 53-man roster and then get moved to IR the next day.

That forced teams to cut one player and then re-sign him the next day after the IR shift.

Under the new rule, teams can put two players on IR on cut day and designate them to return. So the teams won’t need to go through the step of carrying the player on the 53-man roster for a day before shifting them to IR.

The catch is those two players will count toward the limit of eight players who can return from IR during the season. If a top player is injured and going to miss at least the first four games, it would make sense to take advantage of the new rule.

But teams may still favor the old method with players further down the depth chart. That way they can move the player to IR for the first four weeks the day after cuts and not be locked into using one of the return spots on that player.

Required reading

(Photo: Jonathan Wiggs / The Boston Globe via Getty Images)