With NFL teams set to finalize their 53-man rosters, I thought I would look back at waiver claims during the past 10 years in the NFL.
During that 10-year period, there were a total of 324 waiver claims made following final cuts to every team's 53-man roster. The most claims made were in 2015 and 2017, in which 44 were made each year. The fewest was in 2020 with 17 claims. In that season, there were no preseason games because of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, so teams had no preseason film to study.
Here is a link to the waiver claims made in 2015. You'll notice that a lot of defensive backs were claimed, along with a few offensive linemen and wide receivers. With defensive backs, cornerback is a premium position on defense and it's not unusual for teams to look at upgrades to their depth.
Here is a link to the waiver claims made last year (2024). Again, a lot of defensive backs were claimed but not as many offensive linemen or receivers.
Over time, I may compile more data about waiver claims following training camp and the preseason, but the two links I provided give you a sample of the types of players teams tend to pursue.
But I can tell you from glancing at the waiver claims that, in many cases, the players tend to have been in the league for at least a season and, thus, have a sample size of film that goes beyond three preseason games. In some cases, they were drafted players who simply didn't catch on with their current teams or got caught in a roster logjam.
One thing to keep in mind about roster cutdowns and waiver claims is that there are 32 teams who have to get their rosters down from 90 to 53. That means that roughly 1,184 players are going to pass through waivers. That number could be larger or smaller, depending on how many players under the international player rule make the 53-man roster or how many cuts are vested veterans, who don't go through waivers and immediately become free agents.
But if one assumes that 1,184 players go through waivers, even if you have 44 claims like there was in 2015 and 2017, that means 3.7 percent of waived players are claimed by other teams. That means, while a fair number of players get claimed, it's not as many as people think.
For the most part, fans shouldn't fret about losing a player to another team through a waiver claim, especially if the team was deep at the position for that player. Keep in mind that if a team makes a waiver claim, that player must be kept on the 53-man roster and can't be immediately placed on the team's practice squad.
Again, I hope to go over waiver claims in more detail to see what trends can be determined. But I thought it was interesting information to research and may give NFL fans some perspective as to how often waiver claims are made.