By 6:00 p.m. ET tonight, the Carolina Panthers are set to trim their roster down to the initial 53-man group for the 2026 regular season, and that means close to 40 players will be moving on.
The Panthers won’t be making those decisions in a vacuum, either. Every other NFL team is going through the same cutdown process, which means more than 1,000 players will come off rosters and a good chunk of them will land on the waiver wire.
That’s where the claiming order matters. When a player is waived, any team can put in a claim, but the player goes only to the highest team in the waiver priority line. That order is based on this year’s draft queue.
Carolina sits 19th in that line.
The full waiver order runs from the Las Vegas Raiders at the top through the Seattle Seahawks at the bottom, with the Panthers slotted behind the Minnesota Vikings and ahead of the Green Bay Packers.
Here is the order:
Las Vegas Raiders
New York Jets
Arizona Cardinals
Tennessee Titans
New York Giants
Cleveland Browns
Washington Commanders
New Orleans Saints
Kansas City Chiefs
Cincinnati Bengals
Miami Dolphins
Dallas Cowboys
Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Indianapolis Colts
Detroit Lions
Minnesota Vikings
Carolina Panthers
Green Bay Packers
Pittsburgh Steelers
Los Angeles Chargers
Philadelphia Eagles
Jacksonville Jaguars
Chicago Bears
Buffalo Bills
San Francisco 49ers
Houston Texans
Los Angeles Rams
Denver Broncos
New England Patriots
Seattle Seahawks
Not every cut player goes through waivers, though. Anyone with at least four years in the league is not subject to the waiver process. Those players are “released,” which makes them free to sign with any team.
In Other News...
Panthers Final Roster Included A Few Surprise Winners And Brutal Cuts
After a summer of camp battles and preseason auditions, the Panthers settled on their final roster and found a couple of names who turned into real winners. Quarterback Haynes King made the cut, and rookie undrafted free agent Aaron Hall also earned his spot, giving Carolina some surprising additions as the team sorted through the last wave of decisions.
The flip side was just as stark, with several recognizable players on the way out, including DeVonta Smith, Jake Curhan and Elijah Garcia. Carolina also worked to shore up its depth up front by making a trade with the Chargers, a move that suggests the front office is still trying to balance immediate roster needs with the bigger task of building a sturdier group for the weeks ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Finally Closed The Book On A Roster Fit That Never Worked
Isaiah Simmons is back on the market, and the Panthers have moved on from a roster experiment that never really found its footing. Carolina released the former first-round pick, who is now a free agent entering the 2026-27 NFL season after a brief stay in Charlotte last year.
Simmons appeared in five games for Carolina, adding another stop to a career that has already included time with the Cardinals and Giants. The talent has always been obvious enough on paper, with 331 combined tackles, 8.5 sacks, five interceptions, nine forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries, but the Panthers never managed to carve out the kind of role that would make the fit work. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Final Cuts Raised A Bigger Question About Two Position Battles
The Panthers got to their 53-man roster by the NFL deadline on Aug. 30, but the most interesting part of the process was not just who left. Jaseem Reed, after a strong preseason, was among the notable cuts along with veteran David Moore and third-round pick Trevin Wallace, a reminder that even encouraging August performances do not always translate into a spot once the numbers get tight. Carolina is planning to carry six wide receivers into the regular season, which at least gives the group a defined shape heading into the opener.
Still, the final list left behind a bigger question about where the real decisions were made. The Panthers have a little more than two weeks before they open against the Chicago Bears on Sept. 13, and the roster trim suggests the wide receiver group and the battle around Wallace's position were both under a microscope right up to the finish. For a team trying to settle its depth chart before Week 1, those choices may matter as much as the players who survived them. [Read more 🡒]