NFL Cut Sunday Is Coming: Bills Bubble, Steelers QB Problem, UFL Names to Roster

When NFL Roster Cuts Are Due in 2026

The NFL moved cutdown day this year. Every team has to be at 53 by 6 p.m. ET Sunday, August 30 — the first Sunday deadline in 22 years — because the 49ers and Rams fly to Melbourne for a Week 1 game in Australia. Waiver claims are due Monday at 1 p.m. ET. Practice squads form after that. There is no extra Tuesday to think it over. The last preseason snaps are already in the books for most clubs, and the last two games are on TV tonight.

That is why search traffic is spiking around Buffalo’s bubble, Will Howard in Pittsburgh, and every UFL name still hanging onto an NFL jersey.

Where to watch the last preseason games

Friday already gave you the national look at the Commanders at the Ravens (6 p.m. ET, NFL Network) and Bengals at Eagles (8 p.m. ET, CBS / Paramount+). Saturday is the closer:

• Lions at Colts, 1 p.m. ET — NFL Network
• Bears at Titans, 6 p.m. ET — NFL Network

Local markets carry the rest. NFL+ has the mobile package. Starters will be scarce. The players you are watching are fighting for a paycheck, not a highlight.

Buffalo Bills 53-Man Bubble: Gore, Wheeler, Walker

The Bills finished the preseason 3-0 and beat Pittsburgh 28-27 on Thursday. They have already started the purge: veteran receiver Mecole Hardman Jr. and punter Mitch Wishnowsky are out. That is the easy part. The hard part is the last four or five spots.

The room that is locked: Josh Allen and Kyle Allen at quarterback. James Cook and Ray Davis in the backfield. D.J. Moore, Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman, Joshua Palmer, and rookie Skyler Bell at receiver. Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox at tight end.

The room that is not:

• Frank Gore Jr. put tape on the board against the Steelers — yards after contact, blitz pickup, a rushing touchdown in the preseason run. Some projections keep him. Others send him to the practice squad because Ty Johnson and Ben VanSumeren already have defined jobs.
• Ian Wheeler, signed out of the UFL’s Louisville Kings, scored the game-winner Thursday. That is how a spring-league running back stays alive. It is not automatically how he makes the 53. Most beat writers have him as a practice-squad target if Johnson is healthy.
• Kani Walker, the rookie corner, is the defensive name fans keep asking about. Special teams will decide it.
• Trent Sherfield is the veteran receiver on the bubble. Hardman is already gone. Sherfield’s path is the same one every veteran gadget guy walks in August: one more special-teams snap or a ticket home.
• Shane Buechele played well enough as QB3 to get claimed if Buffalo cuts him. That is why the Bills will try to sneak him onto the practice squad instead of exposing him if they can.

Brandon Beane usually finds a creative way to keep one extra body. Sunday’s clock does not care. If Gore and Wheeler both go, do not be shocked if another team’s waiver claim is waiting.

Will Howard: the Steelers four-quarterback problem

Pittsburgh started Will Howard in Buffalo. He went 9-of-15 for 69 yards, two touchdowns, one interception, three sacks. Both scores came after Bills special-teams mistakes — a muffed punt and a shank — from 13 and 28 yards out. He was pulled for evaluation on a head injury and did not talk after the game. For the preseason he has two touchdowns and three interceptions. That is not a takeover. That is a résumé that lives or dies on roster math.

The math is ugly. Aaron Rodgers is the starter. Mason Rudolph is the veteran backup and did not need to throw Thursday. Drew Allar is the 2026 third-round pick the new staff drafted. Carrying four quarterbacks on a 53-man roster is rare because it costs you a starter at another position. Mike McCarthy has sounded like a coach trying to keep all four anyway. The injury gives Pittsburgh an out: stash Howard on IR if the evaluation sticks, or risk the practice squad and hope nobody claims a sixth-rounder with a live arm.

The honest scouting report from Buffalo: the two touchdowns were short, the interception was a missed communication, and the ceiling still looks like a slightly worse Mason Rudolph. If you are searching “Will Howard Steelers” this weekend, that is the debate — not whether he beat Josh Allen. He did not. He was playing the other side of a preseason game the Bills came back to win.

UFL to NFL: who is still standing, who is already gone

This is the part most national cut trackers skip, and it is the part that matters for anyone who actually watched spring football.

The UFL said 111 former spring-league players were under NFL contract during the final preseason week, including 74 from the 2026 UFL season. 88 of them were on active preseason rosters for Friday and Saturday’s games. Detroit led with nine UFL alumni on the 90-man. Arizona and Dallas had seven each. Denver and New Orleans had six. That is not a novelty act. That is a second draft.

The first wave after the UFL title game was 23 signings in a week — double the same window in 2025. Houston Gamblers led the spring side with seven NFL contracts. Columbus Aviators had five. Louisville Kings had four. Receivers were the hottest position. Lions, Falcons, Cowboys, and Saints did the most shopping.

Names still in the fight

• Dondrea Tillman, Broncos EDGE — the cleanest success story. Stallions champion in 2024, now entering year three in Denver. He is not a camp body. He is a roster player until proven otherwise.
• Hakeem Butler, Broncos WR — St. Louis Battlehawks size (6-5) that Sean Payton likes. First real shot at a 53 since a short Eagles stint in 2020. Bubble, not lock.
• Ian Wheeler, Bills RB — Louisville to Buffalo. Game-winning score Thursday. Practice squad is the realistic landing spot. Active 53 is the upset.
• Tony Fields II, Bears LB — All-UFL tackler from Columbus. Chicago signed him to compete, not to cut first.
• Jacoby Windmon, Steelers EDGE — Columbus to Pittsburgh. Depth rusher in a crowded room.
• Antwane Wells, Falcons WR — Columbus return man and receiver. Special teams is his path.
• Tay Martin / Lucky Jackson / Tarik Black / Lawrence Keys — Lions loaded the receiver room with UFL tape. Most of that group is fighting for practice-squad slots, not Week 1 snaps.
• Chris Glaser, Cowboys OL and Gottlieb Ayedze, Dolphins OT — interior and tackle depth. August offensive linemen live on the waiver wire.
• Commanders preseason bodies with UFL ties: Boogie Basham and Curtis Jacobs (DC Defenders), Quindell Johnson (Louisville). Those are special-teams auditions.

Already cut or waived this week

The first UFL casualties of cut weekend are already on the wire:

• Steelers dumped receivers Isaiah Winstead (Louisville Kings) and Cornell Powell (DC Defenders) on Friday.
• Browns waived defensive tackle Patrick Jenkins (Columbus Aviators).
• Seahawks claimed tackle Kellen Diesch (Louisville Kings) off Kansas City waivers — a reminder that one team’s cut is another team’s swing.

That is the UFL pipeline in one weekend: a few stick as real roster players, a pile hit the practice squad, and a pile get released before Sunday dinner. Coaches like the film because these guys have played real games in front of crowds, not just scout-team reps. The 53 does not care about the spring résumé if the NFL depth chart is already full.

What Sunday actually means

About a thousand players come off 90-man rosters this weekend. Most of the UFL names you followed in April will be practice-squad stories by Monday. A handful — Tillman is the model — will be on a 53 when the regular season starts. Gore Jr. and Wheeler in Buffalo, Howard in Pittsburgh, Butler in Denver: those are the searches because they are the last unresolved arguments.

Watch the two Saturday games if you want one more look. After 6 p.m. Sunday, the arguments are over and the waiver wire is open. That is when the UFL guys who just got cut become someone else’s problem — or someone else’s find.