Ahead of Saturday's deadline, all 32 NFL clubs reduced their rosters to the regular-season limit of 53 players.

It is always important to note at this time of year that these are by no means "final" rosters. Building a team is a year-round process that will continue in the coming days and weeks.

With that said, the 53 men currently on the Giants' roster as of 4 p.m. today are largely the group that will take the field in nine days against the Pittsburgh Steelers. It is a culmination of months spent scouting, acquiring, and developing players to field the best team possible.

Below are some notes and observations on the Giants' roster, including competition winners and surprises:

Number of players by position

Offense (23)

• QB (2): Daniel Jones, Colt McCoy
• RB (4): Saquon Barkley, Dion Lewis, Wayne Gallman, Eli Penny
• WR: (5): Sterling Shepard, Golden Tate, Darius Slayton, Corey Coleman, C.J. Board,
• TE (3): Evan Engram, Kaden Smith, Levin Toilolo
• OL (9): Will Hernandez, Kevin Zeitler, Spencer Pulley, Andrew Thomas, Cameron Fleming, Nick Gates, Shane Lemieux, Chad Slade, Matt Peart

Defense (27)

• DL (6): Dalvin Tomlinson, Dexter Lawrence, Leonard Williams, B.J. Hill, RJ McIntosh, Austin Johnson
• OLB (6): Lorenzo Carter, Markus Golden, Oshane Ximines, Kyler Fackrell, Cam Brown, Carter Coughlin
• ILB (5): Blake Martinez, David Mayo, Devante Downs, TJ Brunson, Tae Crowder
• DB (10): James Bradberry, Logan Ryan, Corey Ballentine, Jabrill Peppers, Julian Love, Darnay Holmes, Xavier McKinney, Isaac Yiadom, Sean Chandler, Nate Ebner

Special Teams (3)

• K: Graham Gano
• P: Riley Dixon
• S: Casey Kreiter

A head start

The Giants got a head start on the transactions when they exchanged a wide receiver for a defensive back on Friday. Logan Ryan, who is expected to fill a variety of roles in the secondary, was officially added to the 80-man roster after completing his Covid-19 protocols and passing his physical. To create a slot for him, the Giants placed wide receiver David Sills on injured reserve with a fractured right foot.

Draft picks

Two members of the Giants' 2019 draft class (inside linebacker Ryan Connelly and defensive tackle Chris Slayton) and one from the 2020 class (cornerback Chris Williamson) were released.

QB room

How many quarterbacks a team carries usually depends on the philosophy of the head coach. However, every spot on the roster has to be scrutinized even further this year with the coronavirus pandemic. The Giants kept two quarterbacks for now: Daniel Jones and Colt McCoy, who signed with the team as a free agent this offseason. They released Cooper Rush and Alex Tanney, who had been with the team since 2018.

Injuries

Defensive back Montre Hartage was waived/injured. The injury transactions could continue tomorrow. Linebacker David Mayo (knee) and rookie safety Xavier McKinney (foot) are candidates for the injured reserve list, from which they would be eligible to return after missing a minimum of three games.

Revamped practice squad

Practice squads were already expected to increase from 10 to 12 players this season. But because of the pandemic and the necessity for teams to have more players available on short notice, they were expanded again to 16 players. Theoretically, a team can keep 69 of the 80 players it had in training camp.

Practice squad eligibility has also changed. In the past, a player could not be on a practice squad if he had more than three accrued seasons in the NFL. But the new rules enable teams to keep up to six players on the squad regardless of their service time.

Teams will be able to expand their gameday rosters from 53 to 55 players (48 active) by temporarily promoting players from their practice squads. At least one of the additional active players must be an offensive lineman.

"Really and truly, because of the protocols that are going to be in place during the season, your immediate help is going to be the practice squad guys," general manager Dave Gettleman said earlier this week, "because anybody, whether it's a waiver, a trade, a claim, taking someone off somebody else's practice squad, or bringing in a street free agent, is going to require time. You can touch them, but they can't come in your building and they can't practice.

"The practice squad is going to be really important, how you set those up, because those guys are going to be your immediate help. People would say, 'well, bring people in on Friday and start the testing protocols so that you have them ready for the week.' You don't know what's going to happen that weekend. You don't know what position you're going to need. There may be guys out there you want to work out that you're going to do anyhow. But at the end of the day, you're really going to have to really be very intentional about your practice squad."