What is the NFL waiver wire? 

NFL teams finalized their 53-man rosters by 4:00 pm on Tuesday. Although those rosters are currently set at 53, it doesn't necessarily indicate that teams are done making moves.

This season in particular, there are a significant number of veteran players who didn't make a roster and are now up for grabs, making them quite enticing to other NFL teams.

Some NFL teams release players in hopes of assigning them to the practice squad. But in order to do that, eligible players will have to be placed on waivers and then clear waivers.

Who is placed on the NFL waiver wire?

NFL players who have been released by a team and have less than four years of NFL experience are placed on the waiver wire. An official year of NFL experience requires at least six games where said player is on a 53-man active roster or PUP list.

NFL players with more than four seasons of service time are officially released or can sign with the team's practice squad.

NFL waiver wire is out, longest one of year. 26 pages, over 600 names. Team pro personnel departments now go into busiest night of year, drilling down into the names to see if a 6th receiver, 5th linebacker, 4th safety, etc. is better than what they have. No one is safe yet.

— Andrew Brandt (@AndrewBrandt) August 31, 2021

How long is the wiaver wire claim period?

Once NFL teams submitted their 53-man rosters at 4:00 pm on Tuesday, eligible players were immediately placed on the waiver wire. NFL teams then have until 12:00 pm on Wednesday to place a claim on any eligible players.

If a player is placed on the waiver wire during the regular NFL season, other teams have a full 24 hours to claim the player.

How do NFL teams place claims on the waiver wire?

Teams are first placed into a waiver wire order. Until Week 3, the waiver wire order is the same as the 2021 NFL Draft order, which means that the Jacksonville Jaguars have the first spot and the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers are bottom of the pile. Beginning in Week 4, the waiver wire order is then based on current NFL standings.

If more than one team places a claim on a player, the NFL team with the lower number on the waiver wire order will officially claim the player.

Reminder for tomorrow: The NFL's waiver wire order is the same as the original 2021 NFL draft order. So... 1. #Jaguars, 2. #Jets, 3. #Texans, 4. #Falcons, 5. #Bengals, 6. #Eagles, 7. #Lions, 8. #Panthers, 9. #Broncos, 10. #Cowboys, and so on.More roster shuffling coming up...

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) August 31, 2021

What happens when a player is claimed?

If a player is claimed by another team, they are added to the 53-man roster, which means that the claiming NFL team will have to have an open roster spot for the player. Some teams have left open spots on their rosters for that reason, others will have to release players to make room.