All teams had to reduce their rosters to 53 players five days ago. There may be a more practical cause to cut a few other guys in the upcoming days.
A guaranteed wage will be paid to any player with four or more years of service whose pay is otherwise unguaranteed if they are still on the roster on the final business day before the team's first game.
At that point, the so-called vested veteran has the right to receive the remainder of his salary as termination compensation under the Collective Bargaining Agreement if he is fired at any time following Week One. He can keep the termination pay and the salary he receives from the new team if he eventually signs with them.
This technique for shielding some veterans (it's only available once in a player's career) might work against them because it leaves them open to being released by teams who don't want to take the chance of owing the player their entire salary if things don't work out.
For precisely this reason, some have speculated that the Cowboys could want to wait until after their Week One matchup against the Buccaneers before signing tackle Jason Peters. If he is on the roster when the Cowboys play the following Sunday night, he will receive the full amount of whatever he receives.
However, many other seasoned players might feel a little uneasy in the coming days as they might learn that their team decided to cut them immediately rather than pay their entire compensation. Or perhaps it's to get them to take a wage cut because they won't have many if any, other options if they're let go at this time in the calendar.
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