For the Buffalo Bills, the 2024 NFL preseason is officially over. All eyes now turn to roster cut down day.

The Bills have a ton of questions and crucial decisions to make ahead of the 53-man roster deadline on Tuesday, Aug. 27 at 4:00 p.m. ET. How will Bills GM Brandon Beane and HC Sean McDermott fill out the roster? There's plenty of tough choices that have to be made. 

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2024 NFL roster cuts important details

Each NFL team must cut their training camp 90-man roster down to 53, this year with there being only one cut down day. There are multiple designations the team can put on a player before cut down day. 

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Bills’ 2024 roster cuts: 53*

The following players have been cut by the Buffalo Bills ahead of the 2024 regular season. (*the above number with an asterisk indicates the current roster number after the below listed moves as the team works down to 53 players)

Released

• QB Anthony Brown
• WR Damiere Byrd
• OL Kevin Jarvis
• DE Rondell Bothroyd
• LB Shayne Simon
• LB Deion Jones
• CB Kyron Brown
• DT Eli Ankou
• WR Justin Shorter
• WR Andy Isabella
• S Kareem Jackson
• QB Ben DiNucci
• WR KJ Hamler
• OL Will Clapp
• OL La'el Collins
• DL DeShawn Williams

Waived

• DT Branson Deen
• OL Gunner Britton
• WR Tyrell Shavers
• OL Mike Edwards
• WR Xavier Johnson
• S Kendall Williamson
• DL Gable Stevenson
• DE Kingsley Jonathan
• RB Frank Gore Jr
• OL Richard Gouraige
• CB Keni-H Lovely
• DE Kameron Cline
• CB Te'Cory Couch
• TE Zach Davidson
• CB Daequan Hardy
• TE Tre' McKitty
• OL Keaton Bills

Injured Reserve

• S Terrell Burgess
• S Dee Delaney
• OL Travis Clayton
• RB Darrynton Evans
• LB Matt Milano

Buffalo Bills trades

Along with the ongoing roster cuts, the Buffalo Bills have also made the following trades.

• Buffalo has made a trade with the New York Jets to acquire DB/KR Brandon Codrigan in exchange for a swap of late round 2026 NFL Draft picks. 

NFL roster cut designations explained

Release: Players with four or more accrued seasons (vested veterans) can be released. If that happens, they immediately become free agents and are available to sign with any team — which includes signing back with their original teams. With the new IR rules (we will talk more about it later), the mechanism to cut vested veterans and sign them back on day 2 will be less prevalent, but it might still be used eventually — because there will be only two designations to return for players placed on IR before the initial 53.

Waiver: When players with fewer than four accrued seasons (non-vested veterans or rookies) are cut, they are not immediately released from their current contracts. They go through a waiver system, in which every other team in the NFL can claim their deals. If two or more teams try to claim the same player, the priority respects the original order of the draft (through week 3 of the regular season). If the player passes through waivers unclaimed, then he becomes a true free agent and is available to sign a new contract with anyone.

Waived/injured: When a non-vested veteran or rookie doesn't pass a physical before being released, he receives a waived/injured designation. He goes through waivers and if no other team claims him, he reverts back to his original team injured reserve. Usually in these cases, when it's not a season-ending injury, the original team later reaches an injury settlement with the player — good for the team, that won't pay the full salary, and for the player, who will be able to sign with another team to play as soon as possible.

Injured reserve: This is where a new rule has been put in place. Until last year, a player had to make the initial 53-man roster to be placed on IR and be eligible to return later in the season. Now, up to two players can be placed on IR on the day of final cuts (Tuesday) and designated to return after four weeks later. Teams still have the option to carry injured players on the 53-man roster for multiple reasons. First, if a player is placed on IR, he is forced to miss at least four games. Second, if a player makes the initial 53 and is placed on IR on the following day, there are eight designations to return from IR — and another two for playoff teams.

PUP/NFI: If the player didn't pass the physical to start training camp, the team designate him as physically unable to perform (PUP) if it's a football-related injury or NFI-list if it's an injury suffered outside of NFL activities (this includes injuries suffered in college football games, gym, or any other area of life). A player on the NFI-list is not entitled to receive his salary. However, the team and player can negotiate a rate of payment.

Through training camp, players stay on the active PUP/NFI list, so they count towards the 90-man roster limits and can be activated at any point. When the roster is cut from 90 to 53, the team has to activate the player to the roster or to place him on the inactive PUP/NFI. If he's placed on one of these lists, the player has to miss at least four regular season games, but doesn't count towards the roster limit.

Other reserve lists: There are other reserve lists that are more or less frequent and with particular rules. Suspended, retired, did not report, military, Commissioner Exempt List. In each case, the player wouldn't count towards the 53-man roster limit.

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NFL Practice Squad rules

After the claiming period has ended at 11:00 AM CT on Wednesday, Aug. 28, teams are permitted to assemble their 16-man practice squads. Here are the rules on who can be signed to the practice squad.

• Players who do not have an accrued season (I.E. rookies).
  
  
• Players who were on the active roster for fewer than nine regular-season games during their only accrued season(s).
  
  
• Up to four players per team with no more than two accrued seasons.
  
  
• Up to six players per team with no accrued season limitations (I.E. vested veterans).

Buffalo Bills go unconventional route to play to strengths in final 53-man roster prediction

This would be a new look for Buffalo.

Follow along all season for all the latest Buffalo Bills news. You can also find me on X @JonHelmkamp.