The Washington Commanders are cutting the roster down to only 53 players before the league’s deadline on Tuesday at 4 pm ET. The team has a lot of difficult decisions to make after another offseason of rebuilding the roster from top to bottom.

Here’s an updated tracker on the moves made by the Commanders.

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Commanders Roster Cuts Tracker (Updating as moves are made)

• OL Julian Good-Jones
• CB Essang Bassey
• WR Michael Gallup
• C Nick Harris
• OT Tyre Phillips
• DT Norell Pollard
• WR Braylon Sanders
• RB Kazmeir Allen
• LB Kam Arnold
• DT Ricky Barber
• WR Ja’Corey Brooks
• TE Lawrence Cager
• WR River Cracraft
• DT Carl Davis
• DT Sheldon Day
• C Michael Deiter
• RB Demetric Felton
• DE Clelin Ferrell
• CB Antonio Hamilton Sr.
• QB Sam Hartman
• T Bobby Hart
• DE Andre Jones Jr.
• WR Jacoby Jones
• DE Jalyn Holmes
• DE T.J. Maguranyanga
• WR Tay Martin
• S Rob McDaniel
• G Timothy McKay
• WR Chris Moore
• S Ben Nikkel
• WR K.J. Osborn
• CB Bobby Price
• LB Duke Riley
• T Foster Sarell
• TE Cole Turner
• CB Car’lin Vigers
• S Daryl Worley

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Transaction Terms To Know:

Unlike it used to happen, now there is only one roster cut deadline. It means the roster must be reduced from 90 (or 91, if you count the International Pathway Program exception) to 53 all at once. For that to happen, the team can utilize several roster tools.

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’s 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, which 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. 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 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 it doesn’t count towards the roster limit.

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