Madden 24 Week 1, 53-man roster update confirmed for Thursday

The NFL season officially kicks off this week and for those eager to start your franchise with accurate rosters, you’ll soon be able to do so. Madden’s ratings adjustor Dustin Smith confirmed on social media that the Week 1 roster update, which will contain all of the latest roster changes since the 53-man cut deadline, will be released on Thursday, September 7.

While he gave no specific time, the update typically drops a few hours before the Thursday Night kickoff game. If that’s the case here, expect the update to be available in the early afternoon.

Although the NFL’s deadline to trim rosters to 53 players was on August 29, it typically takes EA about a week to get all of the necessary changes in the game. Once this update hits, we should have the most accurate rosters to date. This is typically the best time to start a franchise.

Unfortunately, if you’ve already started a franchise in Madden 24 and want these 53-man rosters, you’ll need to start a new one. The game does not allow you to retroactively update the rosters once you’ve started a franchise.

While there were some big offseason moves, the roster deadlines themselves was fairly uneventful. There was speculation that Jonathan Taylor could be traded from the Colts but that never happened. And some of the major running back signings, like Dalvin Cook to the Jets, has already been made in Madden in smaller updates released throughout preseason.

These roster updates are more about filling out the bottom half of the roster with the most accurate details. As a franchise player, I prefer the most up-to-date rosters, even if it’s just a player or two that I know will never step onto the field for my team.

The 2023-24 NFL season kicks off this Thursday with the Detroit Lions at the Kansas City Chiefs. Kickoff is at 8:20 p.m. ET, so expect the update before then.