Change to one preseason roster cut passes without presentation

Posted by Mike Florio on March 28, 2023, 4:34 PM EDT

When 24 votes are necessary to pass a proposed rule change and 25 teams proposing a given rule change, it’s safe to say it’s going to pass.

And 25 teams did indeed propose the shift in preseason roster cuts, with the multi-step process now going back to one fell swoop, 90-man rosters dropping to 53 at the same time.

"Obviously passed,” Competition Committee chairman Rich McKay told reporters in Arizona on Tuesday. "There were enough people proposing it that that was enough to pass it. I do think that it makes some common sense to us now, because of the size of the practice squad and because you’ve had these players all offseason. Your coaches have invested all this time in developing them. They know your scheme. And they are going to be the players who get you through the season, through standard elevation and IR replacement, so in our mind, it made sense that the cut should come at the end.”

The NFL first went with one-round-of-cuts only in 2017. In 2021, as part of the reduction in the preseason from four games to three, the NFL installed a three-step reduction process, from 90 to 85, 85 to 80, and 80 to 53.

The cuts now happen on the Tuesday after the preseason finale, instead of the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. That’s a direct result of removing the fourth preseason game and shutting the league down for a week, before starting the regular season.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2023/03/28/change-to-one-preseason-roster-cut-passes-without-presentation/