Practice squad rules - details

[Desert Bills Fan]

I was curious on the PS details. At this time I thought I’d share with others who might not know all the details:

 

When the COVID-19 pandemic shook up rosters in 2020, the NFL decided to expand practice squads to 16 players.

 With an exception: NFL teams can have 17 players on their practice squads, with one caveat: One practice squad member has to be a member of the NFL's International Pathway Program.
Of the other 16, 10 must be rookies or second-year players.

so, Up to six of the 17 players can have unlimited NFL experience, which is a big development in recent years. Previously, players could have no more than two accrued NFL seasons for eligibility.

Every Tuesday, teams can designate four players as protected, so they can't be placed on another team's active roster from that day until kickoff.

Two players can be promoted to the active roster on game days. Then they return to the practice squad, unless the team offers a one-year deal.

Teams can't activate a player more than twice; after the second time, they must decide whether to promote him to the active roster.

[Avisan]

Thank you for this!

 

Posters should be requires to read this and pass a quiz on it prior to posting in threads about practice squad signings.

[Bigvinny]

 

[BillsShredder83]

1 hour ago, Desert Bills Fan said:

I was curious on the PS details. At this time I thought I’d share with others who might not know all the details:

 

When the COVID-19 pandemic shook up rosters in 2020, the NFL decided to expand practice squads to 16 players.

 With an exception: NFL teams can have 17 players on their practice squads, with one caveat: One practice squad member has to be a member of the NFL's International Pathway Program.
Of the other 16, 10 must be rookies or second-year players.

so, Up to six of the 17 players can have unlimited NFL experience, which is a big development in recent years. Previously, players could have no more than two accrued NFL seasons for eligibility.

Every Tuesday, teams can designate four players as protected, so they can't be placed on another team's active roster from that day until kickoff.

Two players can be promoted to the active roster on game days. Then they return to the practice squad, unless the team offers a one-year deal.

Teams can't activate a player more than twice; after the second time, they must decide whether to promote him to the active roster.

Wow! Its come a long way.  When theres no such thing as farm teams, in a billion $ market x 32, this makes so much sense to have!!

 

Kinda feel like they should expand it!!!  Maye an extra 5-10 spots for young guys with 4 years or less experience.  If they want to keep teams from abusing the extra part of the roster, designate the extra 5-10 spots as "redshirt".  Just a place for guys to latch on somewhere and develop.  Plenty of players would love that, teams would too, and it'd be good for the sport overall IMO.  We need more real talent in the NFL, and throwing away 99.5% of all college players surely isnt helping that.

 

Will any franchise QB's develop outta that? Probably not, but OL talent for example, has been falling league wide for a while now. I fail to see a real downside unless the XFL/UFL thing ever materializes.

[JP51]

4 hours ago, Avisan said:

Thank you for this!

 

Posters should be requires to read this and pass a quiz on it prior to posting in threads about practice squad signings.

There is a degree of truth here LOL 

4 hours ago, Desert Bills Fan said:

I was curious on the PS details. At this time I thought I’d share with others who might not know all the details:

 

When the COVID-19 pandemic shook up rosters in 2020, the NFL decided to expand practice squads to 16 players.

 With an exception: NFL teams can have 17 players on their practice squads, with one caveat: One practice squad member has to be a member of the NFL's International Pathway Program.
Of the other 16, 10 must be rookies or second-year players.

so, Up to six of the 17 players can have unlimited NFL experience, which is a big development in recent years. Previously, players could have no more than two accrued NFL seasons for eligibility.

Every Tuesday, teams can designate four players as protected, so they can't be placed on another team's active roster from that day until kickoff.

Two players can be promoted to the active roster on game days. Then they return to the practice squad, unless the team offers a one-year deal.

Teams can't activate a player more than twice; after the second time, they must decide whether to promote him to the active roster.

Kinda like "to kill a mockingbird" in high school... required reading... or... at least when I was in high school LOL... 

[ControllerOfPlanetX]

Woody Woodpecker and I are reviewing ALL the rules..

 

[djp14150]

On 8/27/2025 at 7:30 AM, Desert Bills Fan said:

I was curious on the PS details. At this time I thought I’d share with others who might not know all the details:

 

When the COVID-19 pandemic shook up rosters in 2020, the NFL decided to expand practice squads to 16 players.

 With an exception: NFL teams can have 17 players on their practice squads, with one caveat: One practice squad member has to be a member of the NFL's International Pathway Program.
Of the other 16, 10 must be rookies or second-year players.

so, Up to six of the 17 players can have unlimited NFL experience, which is a big development in recent years. Previously, players could have no more than two accrued NFL seasons for eligibility.

Every Tuesday, teams can designate four players as protected, so they can't be placed on another team's active roster from that day until kickoff.

Two players can be promoted to the active roster on game days. Then they return to the practice squad, unless the team offers a one-year deal.

Teams can't activate a player more than twice; after the second time, they must decide whether to promote him to the active roster.

 

 

Iirc teams can not claim PS players from their next opponent

[BlueRed]

Appreciate you posting these details and giving a place for this type of discussion. 
 

One question I had for anyone that may know is how a player like Zach Davidson would be viewed for practice squad. Would he need to be one of the 6 vets (drafted in 2021) or would he still be considered a first year player since he’s probably only be on an active roster like a handful of games?

[billsfan89]

The PS rules drastically needed to be changed along with the IR rules. Having 4 extra slots with 6 allowed to be vets makes sense. But having 10 slots for 1-2 year players is also good because the PS is where these younger guys can get a chance to gain experience and develop to try to push to make the 53 the next off-season. So it is still for the significant majority of the slots a place where guys mostly develop. But it also allows the extension of vets careers to have them basically be "two way" players. Dane, Po, and Phillips are fantastic guys to have on those protected vet PS slots.