A large number of football players who played on the 32 NFL teams over the weekend will be visiting Floyd’s Barber Shop early this week. 

Mayberry’s favorite barber, Floyd Lawson, will (theoretically) be dealing with a lot of players over the next day or so.

Teams are permitted to utilize 90 players in during the NFL’s three game preseason which just ended over the weekend.  The teams are required to trim their roster to 53 active players by 3PM CDT on Tuesday, August 26.

Each team will send 37 players (90 minus 53) packing early this week.

The math adds up to 1,184 NFL preseason football players being sent home by late Tuesday afternoon of this week.

Thankfully, some players who are waived or released may still find a job with the same team or, possibly, another NFL franchise.

Veteran NFL players being released this week with four or more seasons are considered “vested”.  They become unrestricted free agents immediately and can sign with any other team.  Those vested players will be paid at the same salary level after signing with their new football team.

The remaining “unvested” players (rookies through players with three seasons in the league) are placed on waivers.  They are forced to wait another 24 hours to learn their fate.

Amber “waives” of pain

The term “waiver” means that any of the other 31 NFL teams are provided a brief opportunity to sign a released player to their roster.  The teams with the worst records from the previous season have priority in the claiming process.

The other 31 NFL teams have 24 hours to claim the player being waived.  A rookie or veteran player with less than four years in the NFL being claimed from waivers must report to his new team immediately.  The player will (generally) be paid at the same salary and contract terms as he received with his former team.

All players going unclaimed after the waiver process ends become free agents.  The player is allowed to sign with any NFL team (including his former team) and be paid a mutually agreeable salary and contract terms. 

The chosen few – There are 1,696 pro football jobs in the NFL

The 32 NFL teams are permitted to keep 53 active players on their regular season roster.  That totals 1,696 jobs which are, for the most part, secure for the upcoming football season.

Statistically speaking, the average pay for the 53 players on each NFL team was $3.2 million in 2024.

You’ve read about teams paying star wide receivers $35 million, defensive rushing specialists $40 million, and quarterbacks making $50 million or more every season.

Most other players on the 53-man roster will necessarily make less than the team’s $3.2 million average pay to help cover the cost of the team’s star players.

Remember the Taxi squad?

Each NFL team is permitted to keep up to 17 players on their practice squad.  Basically, these players help prepare the 53-man regular season roster to prepare for each upcoming game.

Pro football players now play a grueling 17-game regular season.  They are subject to frequent injuries and need time to recover – especially in the early part of the week.

Practice squad players are instrumental in filling many of those positional needs during the week before each game.

Pay for the practice squad players will be about $13,000 per week ($221,000 per year for a 17-game regular season) in 2025.  Veteran players are permitted to negotiate and receive slightly higher weekly pay.

Some of us remember are old enough to remember when the extra NFL practice players were called the “Taxi Squad.”

Interestingly, late 1940’s Cleveland Browns head coach Paul Brown is responsible for that term.  Smaller revenue streams forced NFL teams to carry a bare minimum of players.

Coach Paul Brown kept several extra players around Cleveland by getting them jobs driving local taxis.  Actually, some of these players only pretended to work as taxi drivers.

They showed-up at Cleveland Browns team practices and were paid under-the-table by the team owner.

Other NFL teams quickly discovered this clever (cheating) maneuver and did the same thing.

Eventually, the NFL agreed to add more active roster players and established guidelines for maintaining this small group of reserve players for practice purposes.

Good-bye, Taxi Squad!

What percentage of this week’s players being cut will find another NFL job?

Historically, about 25% of the NFL players being cut/waived/released by their preseason team this week will find another job in the league soon.

The lucky survivors are most likely to be re-signed by the same team and become part of the 17-player practice squad.  Familiarity with the team’s coaches, playbook and other players make that a logical decision.

Many of these other unemployed players may seek a job in the Canadian Football League.  Unfortunately, the CFL regular season is already underway and will end on October 2.

Some of these players might want to take a shot at playing in next spring’s United Football League (assuming there will be another season of UFL spring football, that is).  The pay for most UFL players this spring was about $62,000 per season.

A significant number of the football players being cut this week will be shocked at the sudden end of their careers.  These athletic stars in high school and, perhaps, college football were facing exceptional competition for the first time as they entered the professional ranks.

A predictable new trend is quickly developing. 

Many college football players are deciding to stick around in school until they exhaust eligibility rather than taking a risk of being cut by the NFL.

Sadly, the players aren’t sticking around (necessarily) to receive a degree.

College Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rules allows football players to legally receive hundreds of thousands or, in some cases, millions of dollars at major universities.  More “good-but-not-great” football players are delaying heading to the NFL for safer earnings by staying another year in college.

What is going to happen with these well-known NFL players?

Shedeur Sanders (QB – Cleveland Browns) – the fifth round pick played well in Cleveland’s first preseason game but was injured and didn’t play in Game #2.  Sanders was Cleveland’s third quarterback of the day during Saturday’s final preseason game.

He completed three of six passes for just 14 yards.  Worse, Shedeur Sanders was sacked five times in just one quarter of action with one of those mental errors resulting in a backwards scrambling 24-yard loss.

Sanders may get lucky as the Browns are expected to keep four quarterbacks on the roster (most teams keep no more than three).  The Browns could waive him and try to re-sign him to the team’s practice squad if no other NFL team claims the rookie QB off waivers.

Shedeur Sanders’ preseason showing has proven that the media (as usual) was guilty in creating and pushing most of the hype.  Sanders fell to the fifth round in the NFL draft for good reason.

Anthony Richardson (QB – Indianapolis Colts) – Richardson’s demise is much like former LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell almost twenty years ago.

Both players were selected with a #1 draft pick along with expectations that they would quickly become top NFL quarterbacks.  Each player was physically gifted and could throw a football through the proverbial brick wall.

Alas, neither Russell nor Richardson connected enough with their own wide receivers.  The NFL demands accurate passing skills along with deft on-field awareness.

Anthony Richardson is now entering his third season with the Indianapolis Colts.

He was benched during this year’s preseason in favor of former New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones.  Anthony Richardson’s best hope for a fresh start is to be traded to another NFL team with a long-term quarterback need.  Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, and the L.A. Rams may be willing to give-up a late round draft pick to the Colts to give Richardson a second chance with a new team.

There is some positive news to report!

The NFL’s regular season is going to begin in less than two weeks.  I’ll have my annual Fantasy Football guide in the coming days.

Stay tuned!

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