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Practice Squad rules and information - theProf - 08-31-2011 01:19 PM
Each NFL team may keep up to eight members on its "practice squad" in addition to the 53-member main roster. Additionally, the NFL has a program through which foreign players may be assigned to teams' practice squads, called the International Practice Squad Program. Thus, in some years a team might have 9 players on the practice squad, if one of the players is an assigned "foreign" player. Several years back the Falcons did have a 9-member practice squad that included an assigned foreign player, but I have forgotten the foreign players name.
"The brand new CBA has clarified a lot of the language in the previous version, and the practice squad section is no exception. The rules haven’t changed, but they are expressed more clearly than they were before:
The Practice Squad shall consist of the following players, provided that they have not served more than two previous seasons on a Practice Squad:
(i) players who do NOT have an Accrued Season of NFL experience; and
(ii) free agent players who were on the Active List for fewer than nine regular season games during their only Accrued Season(s).
(iii) An otherwise eligible player may be a Practice Squad player for a third season only if the Club by which he is employed that season has at least 53 players on its Active/Inactive List during the entire period of his employment."
http://philly.sportscolumn.com/showthread.php?p=190227
I don't know for sure if the 3 year exception would apply to OL Jose Valdez and LB Robert James, who have been on the Falcons practice squad the two previous years, but I think it certainly might. I don't recall the Falcons ever going below a 53-man roster during the past two seasons. If a Falcons player was place on IR, there was always another player immediately activated to the 53-man roster.
Practice squad players practice alongside regular roster players during the week, but they are not allowed to play in actual games while on the practice squad. They can be paid considerably less than active squad players: The minimum salary for a practice squad player in 2011 is $5,700 per week (up from $5,200 per week) for 17 weeks, or $96,900 per season, in comparison to the NFL minimum salary of $375,000 (up from $330,000) for a rookie on the 53-man roster. Teams may choose to pay them more than the minimum practice squad salary if they'd like, but that doesn't usually happen. The practice squad players will also get small signing bonuses, usually in the area of a couple thousand bucks.
"There are some important things to know about practice squad players during the NFL regular season so I'm just going to list them:
• Practice squad players are always free agents, meaning any NFL team can sign them away from another team. The catch with this? A team can't sign a player one week before they play that team and the team that signs a practice squad player must count that player against their 53-man active roster for at least three weeks, bye weeks included. This is even if the player is released after one week - they still count as a spot on the roster.
• Players that are promoted internally from the practice squad to the active roster must remain there for three weeks and get paid the minimum salary for their status (rookie or veteran). If they are let go for some reason before the three weeks are up, they are still paid for those three full weeks."
http://www.milehighreport.com/2010/8/26/1649757/countdown-to-cutdown-nfl-practice
RE: Practice Squad rules and information - theProf - 08-31-2011 01:43 PM
(08-31-2011 01:19 PM)theProf Wrote: Each NFL team may keep up to eight members on its "practice squad" in addition to the 53-member main roster. Additionally, the NFL has a program through which foreign players may be assigned to teams' practice squads, called the International Practice Squad Program. Thus, in some years a team might have 9 players on the practice squad, if one of the players is an assigned "foreign" player. Several years back the Falcons did have a 9-member practice squad that included an assigned foreign player, but I have forgotten the foreign players name.Subsequently found out that the Falcons have had at least two international players assigned to its Practice Squad in the past as follows:
Atlanta Falcons On June 28, Kinoshita signed with his favorite team, the Atlanta Falcons, and competed throughout training camp for a roster spot. "I am very excited to compete at the Falcons' training camp with other great players," says Kinoshita. "It is exciting as a Japanese player to compete with American players, and I want to appeal to the fans in Atlanta. At the same time, I want to show the Japanese people how exciting the great game of football is." He was released by the Falcons at the end of training camp.[9]
On July 23, 2008, Kinoshita was assigned to the Falcons as an International Practice Squad player.[9] Kinoshita is the only Japanese player of the 16 international players to sign onto NFL practice squads."[10]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noriaki_Kinoshita
"Falcons | Alinen on Practice Squad
Sat, 03 Sep 2005 15:38:42 -0700
AtlantaFalcons.com reports Atlanta Falcons DL Klaus Alinen will become the ninth member of the Falcons practice squad as part of the NFL International Development Practice Squad program."
RE: Practice Squad rules and information - phalcon phil - 08-31-2011 01:48 PM
I remember on the other board Kinoshita's name would be censored lol.
RE: Practice Squad rules and information - papachaz - 08-31-2011 02:18 PM
pretty cool info Prof, thanks! now you have me wondering about Valdez and James
RE: Practice Squad rules and information - sonnyjim - 08-31-2011 04:10 PM
I don't understand why practice squads are not more actively raided. I have to believe that whatever linebacker or DT Pittsburgh sends to its practice squad would be a depth improvement on almost every team in the league. At league minimum salary!
If our corner depth is shaky I don't sign the last corner Philly cuts, I wait a week and see if they send one to the practice squad and sign him.
RE: Practice Squad rules and information - phalcon phil - 08-31-2011 04:30 PM
(08-31-2011 04:10 PM)sonnyjim Wrote: I don't understand why practice squads are not more actively raided. I have to believe that whatever linebacker or DT Pittsburgh sends to its practice squad would be a depth improvement on almost every team in the league. At league minimum salary!
If our corner depth is shaky I don't sign the last corner Philly cuts, I wait a week and see if they send one to the practice squad and sign him.
Pittsburgh has a system in place that makes average players excel. I don't know if their success would translate to a system outside of lebeau's.
RE: Practice Squad rules and information - Drathdon - 08-31-2011 05:42 PM
I hope Bear makes it again this year, and develops into a roster player next year. He is doing great on special teams.
RE: Practice Squad rules and information - Jesus - 08-31-2011 06:02 PM
(08-31-2011 05:42 PM)Drathdon Wrote: I hope Bear makes it again this year, and develops into a roster player next year. He is doing great on special teams.
Unfortunately there is no room for him. He would make sense if Coy Wire hadn't been resigned. Coy is a smart football player and makes a couple of big plays a year. Plus he also does a lot of charity work, which I am sure Blank loves. They are similar high motor guys
RE: Practice Squad rules and information - Greg M - 08-31-2011 06:22 PM
(08-31-2011 06:02 PM)Jesus Wrote: Unfortunately there is no room for him. He would make sense if Coy Wire hadn't been resigned. Coy is a smart football player and makes a couple of big plays a year. Plus he also does a lot of charity work, which I am sure Blank loves. They are similar high motor guys
I dunno Bear was called on in practice quite a bit this year by VanGorder and most of it was good.. I think..... VanGorder pretty much screams everything...
I often wonder if the man screams @ his wife to pass the motherfucking beans like she has a pair....
RE: Practice Squad rules and information - Jesus - 08-31-2011 09:26 PM
(08-31-2011 06:22 PM)Greg M Wrote: I dunno Bear was called on in practice quite a bit this year by VanGorder and most of it was good.. I think..... VanGorder pretty much screams everything...
Then she takes whatever pair he has left.