The third and final week of preseason is underway for the New England Patriots. On Monday, they will hold their first practice in Las Vegas before joining forces with the Raiders for a set of joint practices on both Tuesday and Wednesday. On Friday, the two teams will then play their final exhibition game of the summer.
Hanging over all of those are the roster cutdown deadlines. By Tuesday afternoon, the Patriots and the NFL’s other 31 teams will need to have their rosters down to 80. One week later, on Aug. 30, the final roster reduction will take place: teams need to trim from 80 to 53.