When do the Houston Texans have to cut down to 53 players?

The Houston Texans have one more game left in the 2024 preseason, and the reality is for some, that’s the last game some of these players will ever play. The Texans will give their depth players a good long look this weekend against the Los Angeles Rams. We have many spring leagues now including the United Football League, but not all players can latch on. And once cutdown day comes, their dreams are cut short. Some, if they’re lucky enough, will latch on with other teams or re-sign to their team's practice squad

This year, the NFL is back to doing cuts the traditional way, all in one day. Once Covid-19 hit, the NFL tried something new. Teams were forced to cut a handful of players after each preseason game before the final cutdown day to get to 53 players. However, that became difficult for many as coaches and general managers couldn’t get a long enough look at many players. Thankfully that was done away with in 2023, and now teams get more than a month to analyze their young players and position battles. 

When is cutdown day this year?

The final preseason games of 2024 are being played Sunday night. After that, teams have until August 27th at 4:00 PM EST to finalize their 53-man rosters, and beginning the following day on August 28th, teams can begin to fill out their 17-man practice squads. Teams typically won’t make their announcements until the 4:00 PM deadline, but news will begin to trickle in from national and local reporters. 

Last year we saw a bit of mayhem on cutdown day as there were 19 trades in total. Those trades included three kickers and two quarterbacks. Houston made one of those trades last year, acquiring veteran offensive lineman Kendrick Green from the Pittsburgh Steelers. As the Texans finalize their roster, there may be some players they receive calls about, and ultimately ship them away. They have plenty of roster battles, and teams may begin to call about their roster bubble veterans. 

The Texans haven’t shown signs of being aggressive around roster cutdown day this year, but they’ve been aggressive all off-season up to this point. If a player they like becomes available and it’s in a position of need, Houston will come calling. And with only six draft picks in 2025, the Texans could swap their bubble players for future assets next week. This won’t be a quiet day for the Texans, and their phones likely won’t stop buzzing either from interested teams around the league.