​Nov 17, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Omar Khan talks on the phone before the game against the Baltimore Ravens at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con With the NFL preseason nearing its conclusion, teams will have to begin the process of cutting players to be compliant with the 53-man limit for the regular season. The Steelers themselves just played their final preseason game and will need to make some tough decisions by the cutdown deadline this Sunday, August 30, by 6 PM EST. As Pittsburgh gets one step closer to the regular season, they enter the year at plus-money odds to make the postseason at +154, per FanDuel Sportsbook.The flurry of transactions won’t stop after initial cuts, though. Every year, after teams announce who they’ve released, there is a waiver process that allows teams to claim certain players released by other organizations.Which players are eligible for these claims? When must claims be made? And how does the NFL decide the waiver order? We’ve got the answers for you.When is the waiver deadline? Once the 53-man roster deadline arrives, teams will have until 1 PM EST the next day — August 31 this year — to file their claims. The NFL will review those claims and then announce which claims were successful shortly after the deadline. Once those have been announced, teams will officially be able to start filling their practice squads. Which players can go on waivers? The NFL ecosystem contains a great many players. During the preseason, teams are allowed up to 90 players on their rosters at a time, which works out to 2,880 players. But once cutdowns occur, just 1,696 remain, meaning 1,184 are suddenly up for grabs for teams to add if they wish. Some of those players will head to the waiver wire, but others won’t. To determine which players are which, the NFL sorts the players into two categories: players who are vested and players who are not. 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? Through the