Kansas City did not wait for the waiver wire. On Saturday, the Chiefs sent a 2028 sixth-round pick to Baltimore for offensive tackle Diego Pounds, the club confirmed on its own site, one day before the 6pm ET cutdown deadline.
Pounds is an undrafted rookie from Ole Miss who slipped through the 2026 draft despite pre-draft evaluations that had him as the No. 12 offensive tackle on the board and a projected fourth-round pick. At 6-6 and 325 pounds, he had made himself impossible to hide in Baltimore’s preseason, allowing zero pressures across 26 pass-blocking snaps at left tackle.
The Ravens, deep on the line, took the pick. The Chiefs got a developmental swing tackle without paying a draft-day premium.
Deadline moved forward for Melbourne trip
The full 32-team cut normally runs into Tuesday. This year the league brought it forward to 6pm ET on Sunday, 30 August, because the San Francisco 49ers were flying to Australia on Wednesday for the 10 September season opener against the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne.
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That squeezed the Chicago Bears and Tennessee Titans, both of whom played their final preseason game on Saturday night and had less than 24 hours to lock in a roster.
Veteran receivers headline the casualty list
Wide receiver was again the most crowded room in football, and the cuts reflected it. The Buffalo Bills released Mecole Hardman, punter Mitch Wishnowsky and receiver Dante Pettis in a single wave. Denver moved on from Hakeem Butler, Cleveland from Cedric Tillman, and the New York Giants from Isaiah Hodgins.
Quarterback moved just as freely. The New York Jets released Bailey Zappe, Carolina cut Kyle Trask, Cincinnati waived veteran Josh Johnson, and the Los Angeles Chargers parted with DJ Uiagalelei.
Ewers, McCord, Johnson and Jones traded before the buzzer
The trade market ran alongside the cuts. Miami acquired quarterback Kyle McCord from Green Bay for a 2028 sixth-round pick, the NFL confirmed in its Sunday roundup, one day after the Dolphins had sent Quinn Ewers to Jacksonville.
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Pittsburgh sent running back Kaleb Johnson to Green Bay for a 2028 seventh-round pick. The Steelers also parted with offensive tackle Broderick Jones, who went to the Dallas Cowboys.
Buffalo and Indianapolis swapped a package around centre Sedrick Van Pran-Granger; Las Vegas and the New York Jets exchanged a similar deal for centre Jordan Meredith; and the Los Angeles Chargers moved defensive lineman TeRah Edwards to Carolina.
Beckham makes the Giants at 33
Odell Beckham Jr., 33, made the Giants’ initial 53-man roster after sitting out all of 2025, completing a comeback to the franchise where he started his NFL career. His preseason production was enough to force the decision.
Minnesota kept quarterback J.J. McCarthy, the 2024 first-round pick who had a rough exhibition schedule but stayed on the depth chart. He remains the Vikings’ starter for Week 1.
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Parsons opens the season on PUP
Green Bay’s cutdown carried the biggest injury news. The Packers moved Micah Parsons from active/PUP to reserve/PUP, meaning the edge rusher will miss at least the first four games of the regular season. Parsons tore his ACL in December during his first year in Green Bay and had surgery on 29 December to repair the ligament and his meniscus.
Parsons has pointed to the Week 6 game against his old team, the Dallas Cowboys, as his most optimistic return date.
The waiver wire opened on Monday, 31 August, with 1,100-plus players available to the rest of the league.
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