Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane and the front office have the near-impossible task ahead of them. At the 4 p.m. ET deadline on Tuesday, Buffalo must have its roster cut from 90 to 53 players. This will be updated live as the front office is expected to announce a flurry of roster moves over the upcoming days. Make sure to continue to revisit to see the updated list.

Waived

• QB Shane Buechele
• DB Zy Alexander
• DE Nelson Ceaser
• DB Garnett Hollis Jr.
• OL Rush Reimer
• RB Elijah Young
• OL Richard Gouraige
• OL Mike Edwards
• CB Daequan Hardy
• OL Jacob Bayer
• OT Clayton Travis (International Pathway Program)
• TE Keleki Latu
• WR Stephen Gosnell
• LB Jimmy Carlo
• LB Edefuan Ulofoshio
• DT Casey Rogers
• TE Matt Sokol
• LB Keonta Jenkins
• TE Zach Davidson
• WR Deon Cain
• RB Frank Gore Jr.
• OL Mike Edwards
• DT Marcus Harris
• DT Paris Shand
• DT Zion Logue

Released

• DB Tre Herndon
• QB Mike White
• CB Dane Jackson
• WR Laviska Shenault Jr.
• OL Dan Feeney
• WR KJ Hamler
• IOL Kendrick Green
• S Darrick Forrest
• DT Jordan Phillips

Waived/injured

• WR Grant DuBose

Injured Reserve (IR)

• DFR – Tylan Grable
• DFR – Maxwell Hairston

Suspended list

• Michael Hoecht (six-game suspension: PEDs)
• Larry Ogunjobi (six-game suspension: PEDs)

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The official designations that teams use are: released, waived, waived/injured, injured reserve, physically unable to perform, non-football injury/illness, suspended list, commissioner exempt list, reserve/did not report, and the rare reserve/other. While not all designations will apply to all teams, here’s a breakdown of what each designation means surrounding cutdown day.

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Waived: Players with fewer than four accrued seasons are subject to the waiver wire. Instead of hitting the open market, teams have a 24-hour window based on priority, which is determined in the reverse order of the previous season’s standings. If a team does not claim the player, he clears waivers and can become a free agent. After the trade deadline in late October, all players, even vested veterans, are subject to waivers.

Released: This is for veterans with four or more accrued seasons. These players are known as vested veterans, and because of that designation, things work a little differently for them. These players don’t have to go through the waiver process at all. When they are released, the team terminates their contract, and they immediately become free agents and can immediately sign with any team.

Waived/injured: For younger players who are hurt during camp but don’t make the roster. A team can use the waived/injured tag in this scenario, which is just like the waiver process. A 24-hour window opens, and teams have a chance to claim. However, if no one claims the player, he reverts to the original team’s injured reserve list, which normally ends the season unless both sides can agree to a settlement. There’s a caveat, though. If a player is given an injury settlement, he can return later in the season, but not to the same team until three weeks after the length of the settlement has passed. The timing sometimes gets confused because the waiting period starts after the length of the agreed settlement, not from the day of release.

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Injured Reserve (IR): Timing matters the most in this situation. If a player is placed on injured reserve before cutdown day, their season is over. If the player is moved to IR after making the 53-man roster, he must miss at least four games but then can be designated to return. That begins a 21-day practice window for the team to decide whether or not to put him back on the active roster. If unable to be activated in the timeframe, his season is finished with that team unless he’s waived off IR with a settlement. Other teams can re-sign him after the settlement waiting period of three weeks. While on IR, the player does not count toward the 53-man roster. Recent ruling changes allow the number of players a team can return from IR: eight return designations in the regular season, and two additional return designations if the team makes the postseason. Another rule change allows teams to designate two players directly on IR at final cutdowns; this is referred to as designated to return. They count against the season limit each team has of eight, or ten if postseason.

Physically Unable to Perform (PUP): When a player is hurt before camp and has never participated in practice, they find themselves with this designation. While they can be activated anytime during camp, if they remain on PUP after the roster deadline, they get shifted to the reserve/PUP list. From there, the player must miss at least the first four games, then the team can activate the player by clearing them to practice, which opens a 21-day practice window at any point thereafter. If the player is unable to be activated during that 21-day window, he remains on the PUP for the rest of the season. The key distinction between IR and PUP is that players on PUP were never eligible to practice during camp.

Non-Football Injury/Illness (NFI): Reserved for players sidelined by injuries or illness unrelated to football. Players on this list do not count against the roster limit. Unlike IR or PUP, the team is not obligated to pay their salary while they are gone. However, many still do either fully or partially. It comes down to the CBA/club decision. Another wrinkle is that players placed on Reserve/NFI at cutdown must miss the first four games of the regular season. After four weeks, a player can be designated to return. Once he begins practicing, the 21-day activation window opens. Bills fans know all too well about the NFI list. During the 2023 offseason, Nyheim Hines was hit while he was on a jet ski and tore his ACL, ending his season and placing him on the NFI list.

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Suspended List: This designation is for a player suspended by the league or by the team for conduct, PEDs, or gambling, to name a few. They do not count toward the team’s 53-man roster. However, once the suspension has ended and they can return to football, the team must make a corresponding roster move to activate them.

Commissioner Exempt List: Only used in unique situations. This designation falls when a player is under league investigation, often for personal conduct policy situations. The commissioner himself can place the player on the exempt list. This is essentially paid leave, and players can be present at the facility with club permissions, but can’t practice or play, they do not take up a roster spot. It lasts until the NFL makes a ruling.

Reserve/Did Not Report: When a player does not report to camp, usually a result of a contract holdout, but it can be for personal reasons as well. In these cases, a player is moved to the reserve/did not report list. While the team keeps his rights, he does not count toward the 53-man roster until he returns.

Reserve/Other: Think of this as a catch-all category, rarely used. It covers situations such as when a player leaves to fulfill military service or if a player just outright abandons their team. He does not count against the 53, but the club retains his rights.

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