Las Vegas Raiders: When does the 2021 53-man roster need to be set by?
By Brad Weiss
The Las Vegas Raiders will wrap up their preseason slate against San Francisco on Saturday, but when does the 53-man roster need to be finalized?
With only one preseason game remaining, the Las Vegas Raiders will be doing some serious cutting of this roster as they prep for Week 1 of the 2021 NFL season. With the roster already at 80 players, Las Vegas will have to get down to 53 men, and those will be tasked with finally getting this franchise back to the playoffs.
For the past two seasons, the Raiders have gotten off to fast starts, beating some of the best teams in football, only to falter late. In his fourth season back at the helm, Jon Gruden must put together a winning season, and get this team to the playoffs, as the rebuilding of this roster is taking much longer than anticipated.
Derek Carr returns for his eighth season as the starter, and has plenty of weapons on offense, while the defense has looked good this summer. Hopefully, the Silver and Black can put it all together in 2021.
Raiders will have all of August to finalize their 53-man roster
It has been a roller coaster of a preseason for the Raiders, who brought in a bunch of talent on both sides of the ball looking to shore up some holes this offseason. They have revamped the offensive line and added veteran talent everywhere, and the time has come to bring it all together for the Week 1 roster.
With that said, the Raiders, as well as the rest of the NFL will have to get their roster cut down to 53 men by 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, August 31, 2021. That is 13 days before their September 13 opener against Baltimore, so things could certainly change before the Week 1 matchup on Monday night kicks off.
Not only will guys be cut by this date, but you never know what is going to happen across the NFL, and what teams may need to make trades to get their roster set by Week 1. This is one of the more exciting times of the offseason, but before we get there, there is one more dress rehearsal for the Silver and Black on Saturday in the Bay Area.