Vested veteran is a term that the league uses to describe players who have already played a full four seasons at the NFL level. These players are awarded some particular benefits, especially in the context of the cutdown period, which is right around the corner.
First of all, vested veterans are not subject to waivers, meaning they become free agents immediately upon release. Secondly, their salaries fully guarantee if they are on the roster in Week 1, which can complicate matters if they’re roster bubble players.
Just for one example, let’s take the case of kicker Greg Joseph, who signed with the Green Bay Packers before the draft. If the Packers chose to roll with Joseph, rather than returning kicker Anders Carlson, Joseph’s $1.12 million base salary would fully guarantee in Week 1 of the regular season. Meanwhile, Carlson’s $915,000 base salary is non-guaranteed this season. This makes it much easier to move on from Carlson in-season, if the team wants to keep a kicking competition open throughout the start of the year, than it would be to move on from Joseph…