NFL Practice Squad Rules & Waivers

A team in the National Football League actually maintains two rosters. One is the regular roster, the 53 guys eligible to suit up and play in games. The other is a shadow roster called the "practice squad," made up of young players trying to break into the league. The rules governing the practice squad are spelled out in the league's collective bargaining agreement with its players.

  1. Number of Players

    • An NFL franchise can sign as many as eight players for its practice squad, sometimes called the "taxi squad" or "scout team." Players on this squad are eligible to practice with the team, but they do not play in games. Some may be players that the team hopes to develop; others may be there just to ensure that there are enough warm bodies to conduct a full practice.

    Player Eligibility

    • Players who have never been on any team's 53-man roster are eligible to serve on a practice squad, as are players who have been on a 53-man roster in only one season and for fewer than nine games. Any player with more service than that is ineligible. Further, players are limited to three total years on practice squads.

    Pay

    • Practice squad players are paid for every week they're on the squad. The collective bargaining agreement spells out the minimum amount they must receive, though teams are free to pay more. For example, the minimum in 2006 and 2007 was $4,700 a week; for 2008-10, that rose to $5,200.

    Signing Rights

    • If a team likes a player on another club's practice squad, that team is free to sign him to a contract--but only for its 53-man roster, and it has to keep the player on the 53-man roster for at least three weeks. The team that signs the player doesn't have to pay any kind of compensation to the team that lost him. Practice squad players are pretty much fair game. There's one small exception, though: You can't sign a player off another team's practice squad in the week before you play that team.

    Transfers

    • A team can promote a player from its practice squad to its 53-man roster simply by signing him to new contract. But to go the other way, to demote him, the team has to actually cut the player and then re-sign him. That involves putting him on "waivers."

    Waivers

    • When a team cuts a player with less than four years' service in the NFL, which includes any player who could be assigned to a practice squad, that player doesn't immediately become a free agent. He must go through the NFL's waiver system, in which every other team gets a chance to "claim" him, assume his contract and add him to its 53-man roster. If no team claims the player, he becomes a free agent and is able to sign with any team. If another team does claim him, his original team has the right to pull him off waivers and keep him on the roster. So, to demote a player to the practice squad, a team must put him on waivers, then hope that he clears waivers, and then sign him to a practice-squad contract.