2025 NFL Waiver Order
Many of the players cut Tuesday were subject to waivers, giving teams a chance to pick them up (along with the rest of their contract). Teams can claim as many players as they want before the next team gets their remaining targets.
It’s also worth noting that relatively few players are claimed off waivers during final roster cuts each year. Waiver claims will be processed at 11am CT in the following order (via NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo). In reverse order of the 2024 NFL standings, here is how the waiver priority sits:
- Titans
- Browns
- Giants
- Patriots
- Jaguars
- Raiders
- Jets
- Panthers
- Saints
- Bears
- 49ers
- Cowboys
- Dolphins
- Colts
- Falcons
- Cardinals
- Bengals
- Seahawks
- Buccaneers
- Broncos
- Steelers
- Chargers
- Packers
- Vikings
- Texans
- Rams
- Ravens
- Lions
- Commanders
- Bills
- Chiefs
- Eagles
Patriots Set 53-Man Roster
Mike Vrabel‘s first roster as Patriots head coach is taking shape. The team announced the following moves as they set their initial 53-man roster:
Released:
Waived:
- CB Miles Battle
- G Mehki Butler
- G Jack Conley
- CB Brandon Crossley
- TE C.J. Dippre
- RB JaMycal Hasty
- OT Demontrey Jacobs
- RB Terrell Jennings
- WR John Jiles
- DE Truman Jones
- C Alec Lindstrom
- DB Kobee Minor
- DT David Olajiga
- LB Cam Riley
- DT Jahvaree Ritzie
- K John Parker Romo
- TE Gee Scott
- G Cole Strange (story)
- LB Bradyn Swinson
- WR Jeremiah Webb
Placed on IR (designated for return):
Placed on IR:
- WR Ja’Lynn Polk
In addition to cutting Strange, the organization also moved on from Demontrey Jacobs, who started 13 games for the Patriots last season. Elsewhere on the OL, it sounds like David Olajiga will land back on New England’s practice squad if he clears waivers, per Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald.
Perhaps the most surprising moves were the cuts the Patriots didn’t make. Kyle Dugger will stick around despite days of trade speculation. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Patriots did receive multiple trade offers for the safety, but his $9.75MM salary (and how much the Patriots would be forced to take on) was a hurdle during negotiations. Meanwhile, the Patriots are temporarily holding on to eight wide receivers, with players like Kendrick Bourne and Javon Baker making the squad.
Patriots Waive G Cole Strange
Three-plus years after using a first-round pick on Cole Strange, the Patriots are cutting him. New England waived the former starter, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero reports.
Exiting the offseason program, Strange was believed to be leading the Pats’ left guard battle. That changed during training camp, and he is among the holdovers to have fallen out of favor with the Mike Vrabel-led coaching staff. Mentioned as a potential surprise cut, Strange will exit and leave the Pats with $3.9MM in dead money.
Used at both guard and center during his Patriots tenure, Strange never justified Bill Belichick‘s investment. Chosen 29th overall three years ago, Strange — viewed as a reach at the time — ran into a severe knee injury in Year 2 and never ultimately got back on track. The Pats declined his fifth-year option in April.
Strange suffered a torn patellar tendon in 2023, and the injury sidelined him for most of the 2024 season. When the Patriots brought Strange off their PUP list last year, he worked primarily at center. Vrabel’s staff transitioned him back to guard this offseason, but New England saw third-round pick Jared Wilson made a charge for the LG gig. Wilson appears set to form an all-rookie left side with first-round pick Will Campbell.
The Pats’ initial 53-man roster includes Ben Brown and swingman Caedan Wallace — part of the team’s 2024 left tackle merry-go-round — as interior backups behind Wilson and RG Michael Onwenu. Strange is not yet a vested veteran, so he will be available to claim by 11am CT Wednesday.
Patriots To Release S Marcus Epps
The safety position in New England has brought some changes, to the point Kyle Dugger could be on the move barely a year after his big-ticket extension. Another veteran piece will not stick under a new coaching staff.
New England is releasing Marcus Epps, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero reports. Epps did not catch on during Mike Vrabel‘s first offseason in charge. The former Eagles and Raiders starter, who signed with the team this offseason, will head straight to free agency as a vested veteran. Epps requested the release, per the Boston Herald’s Doug Kyed.
The Pats gave Epps a one-year, $2.03MM deal; they will eat the $500K guarantee as dead money. Epps is coming off an injury-marred 2024, having suffered an ACL tear in Week 3 of last season. Epps did not require a stay on the Pats’ active/PUP list, however, and Pelissero adds the veteran wanted a fresh start. It should be expected he will land elsewhere soon, though the former Super Bowl LVII starter has lost momentum since signing a two-year, $12MM Raiders deal in 2023.
Dugger’s move to the trade block comes as the Patriots are prepared to use Jabrill Peppers and Jaylinn Hawkins as starters at safety. While it represents an about-face for the team on Dugger, Epps only spent a few months in Foxborough. The 29-year-old veteran will look to land with a fifth NFL team.
The Vikings chose Epps in the 2019 sixth round, but he did not finish that season in Minnesota. The Eagles developed Epps into a starting safety but disbanded their Super Bowl LVII tandem (Epps, C.J. Gardner-Johnson) in 2023, seeing Gardner-Johnson join the Lions days after Epps signed with the Raiders. Epps started 17 Las Vegas games in 2023 before going down three games into his follow-up season.
Patriots Actively Shopping S Kyle Dugger
Patriots safety Kyle Dugger lived up to his second-round draft status very early in his New England career. As a result, the team signed him to a four-year, $58MM extension in 2024. Despite that commitment, the Patriots are actively shopping the safety out for a trade, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. We knew the team was open to trading him, but actively shopping him is an escalation. 
Coming out of Division II Lenoir-Rhyne, it said a lot that the Patriots were willing to make Dugger the second safety selected in the 2020 NFL Draft as the fifth pick of the second round. With Duron Harmon getting traded in the offseason and Patrick Chung opting out of the season due to COVID-19, Dugger was named the primary backup to starting safeties Adrian Phillips and Devin McCourty as a rookie.
By Year 2, Dugger was a full-time starter, breaking onto the scene with four interceptions and 100 return yards. He followed that up with a career year in which he nabbed three interceptions, returning two for touchdowns in 2022. That year, Pro Football Focus (subscription required) graded him as the 11th-best safety in the NFL.
PFF fell out of love with him after that season, though. In 2023, he had another productive season, intercepting two more passes and racking up 109 tackles, including a team-leading 71 solo tackles. That year, PFF graded him as the 68th-best safety in the NFL out of 95 players graded at the position. 2024 saw a year of decline for Dugger. Missing four games and seeing decreased production, Dugger graded as PFF’s 95th-best safety out of 98 players graded last year.
Per Rapoport, the new staff views Dugger much differently than the staff that extended him last April. As a result, Dugger has been seen playing deep into preseason games — when most starters and veterans have been safely removed from play — and had been taking second-team reps in training camp. The work with the second-team defense was due in part to his recovery from a tightrope surgery done to repair a high ankle sprain, but Dugger is reportedly fully healthy yet still, seemingly, on his way out.
When news broke that the Patriots were gauging trade interest for Dugger and outside linebacker Anfernee Jennings, the replies seemed to indicate that Jennings was drawing interest while Dugger’s new contract served as an obstacle for moving him, per Jeff Howe of The Athletic. It’s no wonder, considering how much impact the contract has on his ability to be cut.
If the Patriots were able to trade Dugger, they would be left with only $4.5MM in dead money and open up $10.76MM in cap space. If they can’t find a trade partner, though, it will be interesting to see if they cut him instead. Cutting Dugger would result in $14.25MM of dead money while only opening up $1.01MM of cap space. It’s hard to picture the team releasing the veteran in a move that would financially hamstring them that much.
So, it appears, they’ll continue to shop him out. They may have to find ways to make the trade more enticing by including draft picks or paying some bonuses to Dugger before the trade so that the receiving team is only responsible for base salary. Regardless, it feels as if Dugger may not have a place in New England as the staff actively works to shop him out.
Patriots Expected To Add 3rd QB
The Patriots culled their quarterback room down to two players – starter Drake Maye and backup Joshua Dobbs – on Friday by waiving undrafted rookie Ben Wooldridge.
Obviously, New England doesn’t want to enter the season with just two QBs. Head coach Mike Vrabel indicated (via ESPN’s Mike Reiss) that the Patriots would add a third in the coming days, whether it be to the 53-man roster or the practice squad.
Releasing Wooldridge a few days before final cuts suggests that he won’t be the team’s third-string quarterback He dazzled in the Patriots’ first preseason game, completing nine of his 12 passes for 132 yards (11.0 yards per attempt) and a 138.2 passer rating, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). However, Wooldridge struggled across the next two games, completing 17 of 33 for just 133 yards (4.0 yards per attempt) along with one touchdown and one interception for a 58.2 passer rating. The Patriots could bring him back on the practice squad for more development, but he’s unlikely to be ready for a backup role right away if one of the team’s top two get hurt.
Instead, New England will likely scour the quarterback market in the coming days, seeing which veterans get released and which young passers are available on the waiver wire.
One in the latter group is Giants quarterback Tommy DeVito, who is expected to be released with Russell Wilson, Jameis Winston, and Jaxson Dart ahead of him in New York. He had an excellent game against the Patriots on Thursday in what could’ve been an audition for his new team, per Reiss. He will be subject to waivers, so New England may have to commit a 53-man roster spot to secure his services rather than try to sign him to the practice squad.
Minor NFL Transactions: 8/24/25
Here are today’s minor transactions that may have slipped through the cracks with a day full of mass cuts:
Buffalo Bills
- Released: CB Tre Herndon
Denver Broncos
- Released: OLB Andrew Farmer
- Waived: CB Micah Abraham, WR Joaquin Davis, G Clay Webb
- Waived (with injury settlement): CB Joshua Pickett
Detroit Lions
- Released (with injury settlement): CB Dicaprio Bootle
New England Patriots
- Waived (with injury designation): G Layden Robinson
New York Giants
- Placed on IR: CB TJ Moore
- Released: S K’Von Wallace
Philadelphia Eagles
- Reverted to IR: S Lewis Cine
- Waived: QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson
San Francisco 49ers
- Waived: WR Malik Knowles
Thompson-Robinson continues to struggle to find his place in the NFL. A fifth-round pick for the Browns out of UCLA, Thompson-Robinson was asked to make a number of spot starts in Cleveland. In five starts, he went 1-4, averaging about 150 passing yards per game. Over those two seasons, he scored only one touchdown while throwing 10 interceptions. He was sent to Philadelphia along with a 2025 fifth-round pick in exchange for Kenny Pickett, but the Eagles seemingly do not have a place for him.
Moore was hospitalized with a leg injury suffered in the Giants’ final preseason game but has been discharged following a successful surgery. Barring an injury settlement, he’ll spend the 2025 season on New York’s injured reserve.
Webb received a large signing bonus to sign with the Broncos as an undrafted free agent. While other teams will get their chance to claim him, the Broncos will hope to be able to bring him back to their practice squad.
Patriots To Add QB; Vederian Lowe, Demontrey Jacobs Seen As Trade Candidates
As things stand, the Patriots’ quarterback depth chart solely consists of Drake Maye and Josh Dobbs. The team cut Ben Wooldridge shortly after the preseason wrapped up. 
As a result, the expectation exists New England will be in the market for an addition under center in the coming days. Indeed, head coach Mike Vrabel confirmed (via ESPN’s Mike Reiss) the Patriots will add a quarterback shortly. The new arrival will likely be headed to the practice squad, but nothing will be certain on that front until later this week.
Dobbs’ hold on a roster spot has been questioned, but at this point the veteran is set to operate as New England’s backup. Whether or not a replacement is sought out, finances will not be a challenge. The Patriots entered Sunday with a league-leading $60MM in cap space.
In other Pats news, Reiss’ colleague Jeremy Fowler notes trades involving one or more offensive linemen could be in store soon. That position group is one which often sees movement at this time of year as teams aim to acquire veteran depth in time for the regular season. Specifically, Fowler names Vederian Lowe and Demontrey Jacobs as players viewed as being available in a swap.
Lowe was drafted by the Vikings in 2022, but he has spent the past two seasons with New England. That span included eight starts in 2023 and another 13 last season. After the Patriots made several changes up front this spring, however – including the arrival of a new tackle tandem in the form of Will Campbell and Morgan Moses – Lowe could find himself on the move in the event of a trade.
Jacobs made 13 starts in 2024, but he too is a candidate for a reduced role under Vrabel if he remains in New England. Depending on how trade talks shake out over the next few days, one or more deals could be worked out along the O-line as the Pats try to take a much needed step forward in that respect this season.
Patriots Begin Roster Cuts
The deadline for final roster cuts looms, and teams often get a head start on such moves with players known to be on the wrong side of the bubble. In the case of the Patriots, that has resulted in 14 players being let go early.
Head coach Mike Vrabel announced on Friday (h/t Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald) that the following players have been cut:
- TE Jaheim Bell
- RB Micah Bernard
- DT Philip Blidi
- DB Isaiah Bolden
- TE Cole Fotheringham
- WR Phil Lutz
- LB RJ Moten
- DT Kyle Peko
- DB Jordan Polk
- LB Monty Rice
- G Tyrese Robinson
- G Sidy Sow
- RB Shane Watts
- QB Ben Wooldridge
Each player listed will be eligible to join New England’s practice squad next week, although anyone cut at this time should not be considered a priority (for the Patriots or any other team) in that regard. Wooldridge being let go means that, for the time being, New England only has two quarterbacks on the roster. Drake Maye will of course handle starting duties, but veteran backup Josh Dobbs may not be a roster lock. Especially in the wake of today’s moves, the QB position will be one to watch closely.
A number of relatively recent draft picks are included in the list of players likely moving on. Sow and Bolden were respectively selected in the fourth and seventh rounds in 2023, with Sow handling a first-team role as a rookie. He made only one start last season, however, and was not positioned to serve as a key member of the Patriots’ renovated O-line under Vrabel and his new regime.
Bell joined New England as a seventh-round pick last year. He hardly saw the field on offense but chipped in on special teams. Rice – who logged a 56% third phase snap share during his three Patriots games in 2024 – represents another core special teams presence who will need to be retained via the taxi squad or replaced in the coming days.
Patriots’ Ja’Lynn Polk To Miss 2025 Season
Ja’Lynn Polk had been viewed as a candidate to miss final roster cuts with the Patriots this summer. The second-year wideout’s attention will now turn to matter of recovery, however. 
Polk is set to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery, NFL insider Jordan Schultz reports. Multiple specialists were consulted before the decision was made to move forward with the procedure, he adds. Polk will now aim to return to full health in time for the 2026 campaign.
Selected in the second round of last year’s draft, Polk entered the league with high expectations based on his success at the college level. The Texas Tech product transferred to Washington in 2021 and enjoyed a strong finish to his career with the Huskies. His final season produced personal bests in catches (69), yards (1,159) and touchdowns (nine).
During his rookie campaign with New England, though, Polk made just 12 catches on 33 targets. The team’s offense as a whole struggled mightily last season, leading to a slew of changes over the past several months. With a new regime in place, Polk – along with fellow 2024 draftee Javon Baker – loomed as a cut candidate at the end of training camp. Given today’s news, he can simply be moved to injured reserve and retained through next year.
The Patriots are positioned to move forward with Stefon Diggs, Kayshon Boutte and DeMario Douglas as starters at the receiver spot. Rookie Kyle Williams and Kendrick Bourne (presuming the latter is not released next week) are also set to have a role in the passing game in 2025, while undrafted free agent Efton Chism has enjoyed a strong camp to the point where is expected to make the Week 1 roster. A decision will not need to be with respect to Polk anymore, but Baker’s status will be worth monitoring over the coming days.
By the time he is back to full strength in 2026, Polk will have two years remaining on his rookie contract. His Patriots future will presumably be unclear once again at that point, and a decision on retaining him or moving on will be impacted by the performance of New England’s other wideouts this season.