2020 Bengals roster cutdown tracker

As Labor Day weekend approaches, it’s time for the Cincinnati Bengals to decide which 53 players will make their Week 1 roster.

It’s not really the final roster, even thought that’s what we like to call it from time to time. This will be just one of several iterations of what their active roster will look like this season.

The team already got started on Thursday morning by waiving a handful of players before their scheduled mock game, but many more will follow.

Everything to know about the 2020 practice squad

Along with every other team, Cincinnati will have until Saturday, September 5th at 4:00 p.m. EST to trim their roster down to 53 active players. Since the Bengals don’t have any player currently on the Active/Physically Unable to Perform list or the Active/Non-Football Injury list, they do not have to place any players on those respective reserve lists at that time.

Once this is done, waived players can be claimed until Sunday, September 6th at 12:00 p.m. EST. The waived players who do not get claimed by that time are eligible to be signed as free agents, or most likely added to practice squads. Teams have until 1:00 p.m. EST to establish their 16-man practice squads.

Perhaps the most interesting decision for the Bengals to make surrounds Trae Waynes. The cornerback is expected to miss at least two months of playing time, so being placed on Injured Reserve makes sense. But the team has to have him on the initial 53-man roster first so they can eventually activate him from IR later in the season. This means that in all likelihood, the team will have Waynes on the initial roster, then place him on IR and replace him with a cornerback they recently waived.

Who will join Waynes on the initial roster? Who will join Brady Sheldon, O’Shea Dugas and Bryce Sterk on the chopping block? Follow this stream for all the latest news, updates and rumors regarding the Bengals roster cutdown.