The NFL’s 53-man roster deadline is officially here, which means general manager Joe Schoen and head coach John Harbaugh have the unenviable task of trimming the New York Giants’ 90-man roster down to 53.
And as the Schefty and RapSheet notifications flood your phone over the next couple of hours, you’re going to see two words pop up over and over again: waived and released. They might sound like two different ways of saying someone got cut, but there’s actually a pretty important difference between them.
Especially for a Giants team sitting pretty with the No. 5 waiver priority.
Giants fans will want to know the difference between waived and released
The entire distinction comes down to NFL service time, with four accrued seasons serving as the magic number. A player earns an accrued season by spending at least six weeks on a team’s active roster or injury list.
When a player has four or more accrued seasons, they’re considered a vested veteran. Vested veterans are released.
- The Rule: Their contract is terminated immediately.
- The Reality: There’s no waiver wire and no waiting around to see if another team claims them. They’re immediately free to negotiate and sign with any team in the league, including a potential return to East Rutherford.
- Giants Example: Tight end Josiah Deguara and wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins were both released during the Giants’ initial wave of cuts. They’re free to sign wherever they want.
Players with fewer than four accrued seasons don’t have that same freedom. They’re waived, which means they have to make it through the waiver wire before choosing their next destination.
- The Rule: Waived players enter the waiver system, where the other 31 teams have an opportunity to claim their existing contract.
- The Reality: If another team claims the player, it inherits his current contract. If nobody does, he clears waivers and becomes a free agent, allowing him to sign elsewhere or return to his former team on the practice squad.
- Giants Example: Younger roster hopefuls like undrafted rookie running back Damon Bankston and wide receiver Kobe Prentice have to clear waivers before the G-Men can bring them back on the practice squad.
And here’s where knowing the difference becomes particularly important for Big Blue. Because the waiver priority mirrors the 2026 Draft order at this point in the calendar, NY is sitting pretty at No. 5.
That means Schoen gets one of the first cracks at every eligible player who shakes loose from the roster cut tree. For a Giants roster that still has a few places where another team’s roster-cut casualty could become an upgrade, that’s a pretty good spot to be.
So while Giants fans wait to see which 53 players survive Harbaugh’s first cut day, don’t only pay attention to who’s leaving East Rutherford. Some of the most interesting additions might be coming from everyone else’s cuts.
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