Every year, teams get smarter and smarter about how they manipulate the various roster rules to 1.) make sure the best 48 players are active week 1, 2.) maintain the highest likelihood of keeping players with promise/contribution potential inside the building and 3.) leveraging the IR list to preserve potential contributors for later in the season. The form this takes is usually cutting vested veteran players (who thereby aren’t subject to waiver claims) to either bring them back to the …