Panthers, Browns first to get to 53 … With this afternoon’s 4 PM ET deadline for teams to get down to their 53-man-opening day rosters looming, Carolina and Cleveland appear to be the first two teams to have gotten down to the roster limit. Of note, neither the Panthers nor the Browns released any of their 2020 draft picks, although Cleveland had put FS Grant Delpit on IR last month. As well, Carolina kept 3 rookie free agents. The fear around the league was that without pre-season games it would be tougher for late-round picks and undrafted free agents to make a roster this fall and that is something we’ll be watching as the day progresses. Meanwhile, for those wondering about the slow pace of roster announcements, while teams have to have made their cuts by 4 PM many don’t actually formally announce them until into the evening.
