NFL waiver wire rules and the Cowboys’ position in the waiver order
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This Sunday, August 30th, is a big day on the NFL calendar. By 6 PM ET on that day, NFL teams will have to cut down their roster to the initial 53-man roster. The Cowboys have some tough decisions to make as we have discussed extensively over the past few weeks.
The Cowboys are trying to rebound from two straight years of missing the playoffs and have been getting positive reviews on their offseason so far. Even the sports books, like our partner FanDuel, have the Cowboys as probable for playoff action (-124) which ranks sixth in the NFC.
After the cuts occur, a flurry of transactions will happen as other teams try to patch holes by picking up players who are cut, or by trading for them before the cut happens. The process can be confusing, so here are the rules around the waiver wire in the NFL.
When is the waiver deadline?
Teams have until 1 PM ET on August 31st (the day after the cut deadline), to place a waiver claim on a player. The NFL reviews the process, finalizes the moves, and then teams then can begin filling out their practice squads.
Which players can go on waivers?
Once the cuts happen, players are then placed into two buckets depending on their service time in the NFL. The buckets are vested players and players who have yet to reach that designation.
Our sister site, Behind The Steel Curtain, has outlined this process.
A vested player is one who has been credited with four or more seasons of NFL experience. To be credited for an NFL season, a player must have been on the active, inactive, IR, or PUP roster for three or more regular-season or postseason games. A player can also be credited for a season if they receive an injury settlement or grievance for the equivalent of three or more regular-season games. Note that a credited season is different from accrued seasons, which determine what type of free agent a player is.
Vested players do not go onto waivers and are free to sign with any team at any time, between the day after the Super Bowl and the NFL trade deadline. They are subject to waivers in the period after the deadline through the Super Bowl.
Non-vested players, or players with three or fewer credited seasons, are subject to waivers. If these players go unclaimed, they are free to negotiate with teams as free agents.
How does the NFL determine waiver wire priority?
Once players are determined to be subject to waivers, teams must then be allotted players they claim. But it goes through a waiver order to determine which team’s claim wins on each player. This waiver wire order is used for now and through the first three weeks of the season. That order is the same as the 2026 draft order before any trades were made.
There is also one other key item – after a team is allotted a claimed player, they do not go to the back of the line and wait their turn again. Instead, the team with the top priority who makes a claim gets that player. If the Raiders, who are at the top of the waiver order claim five players, they will get those five players. There is no rotating to the back of the line after making a claim.
What’s the current waiver order?
- Las Vegas Raiders
- New York Jets
- Arizona Cardinals
- Tennessee Titans
- New York Giants
- Cleveland Browns
- Washington Commanders
- New Orleans Saints
- Kansas City Chiefs
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Miami Dolphins
- Dallas Cowboys
- Atlanta Falcons
- Baltimore Ravens
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Indianapolis Colts
- Detroit Lions
- Minnesota Vikings
- Carolina Panthers
- Green Bay Packers
- Pittsburgh Steelers
- Los Angeles Chargers
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- Chicago Bears
- Buffalo Bills
- San Francisco 49ers
- Houston Texans
- Los Angeles Rams
- Denver Broncos
- New England Patriots
- Seattle Seahawks
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