Practice squad
In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scout team by emulating an upcoming opponent's play style. Because the players on the practice squad are familiar with the team's plays and formations, the practice squad serves as a way to develop inexperienced players for promotion to the main roster. This is particularly important for professional gridiron football teams, which do not have formal minor league farm team affiliates to train players. In addition, it provides replacement players for the main roster when players are needed as the result of injuries or other roster moves, such as bereavement leave.
National Football League
History
During the 1940s, Cleveland Browns coach Paul Brown invented the "taxi squad", a group of promising scouted players who did not make the roster but were kept on reserve. To avoid All-America Football Conference payroll rules, team owner Arthur "Mickey" McBride, put them instead on the payroll of his taxicab company, Yellow Cab of Cleveland, though those players never performed any work for Yellow Cab. The name stuck, and the practice of retaining a squad of ready reserves spread throughout professional football. However, the National Football League did not officially recognize the existence of taxi squads until February 18, 1965. On that date, the NFL team owners formally adopted a 40-man active roster supplemented by a taxi squad of unregulated size, which was officially termed the "future list." Over the next few seasons, the NFL gradually limited the allowable number of inactive players to seven, and regulations were established in relation to injured reserve and waiver practices. In 1974, the NFL eliminated the taxi squad altogether, moving the seven inactive spots into an expanded 47-man active roster. Beginning in 1977, a more limited inactive system was introduced, and these players were sometimes referred to as taxi squad members.Mechanism
Players may be signed to a practice squad for several reasons: for lack of space on the team, due to injury, or because they require more development. Practice squad players can be signed to any team's 53-man active roster, without compensation to their former team, at any time during the season. Many NFL players spent time on practice squads before finding success in the league, such as linebacker James Harrison, safety Adrian Phillips, offensive tackle Jason Peters, wide receiver Danny Amendola, running backs Danny Woodhead and Arian Foster, and center Kyle Cook.The practice squad is only in effect during the regular season and postseason. Once a team's season finishes, practice squad players are typically signed to reserve/futures contracts by their teams, enabling them to be members of the team's 90-man offseason roster at the start of the new league year in March. Typical practice squad contracts automatically terminate one week after the team's final regular season or postseason game of the season.
The 2020 collective bargaining agreement allowed for teams to elevate up to two players per week to the active roster from the practice squad. Such promotions must be made the day before the team's game, and allow the player to automatically revert to the practice squad without having to clear waivers. Players were allowed to be elevated to active rosters for up to two weeks in a regular season starting in 2020, and up to three weeks starting in 2022.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in 2020, teams were able to designate up to four practice squad player protections, which prevented other teams from signing those players to their active rosters. This rule is still in effect as of the 2023 season. Additional protocols were in place for activation of large numbers of practice squad players in the event of an outbreak.
Squad size
In the 1993 collective bargaining agreement, practice squads were limited to five players. The practice squad expanded to eight players on April 1, 2004, following a vote from NFL owners. In August 2014, the practice squad expanded to 10 players. The 2020 collective bargaining agreement increased the size of practice squads to 12 players starting in 2020 and 14 players beginning in 2022, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL increased the practice squad size to 16 for the 2020 season. This size increase was made permanent effective with the 2022 season.Eligibility
In 1998, eligibility limits were imposed to allow only players without an accrued season or players who had one accrued season but were active for fewer than nine games that season. Players could only be members of the practice squad for up to two seasons. One practice squad season was defined in 1998 as having been on the squad for at least three games in a season, with bye weeks counting as a game.In 2006, a third practice squad season for a player became possible as long as the team had 53 players on their active roster for the duration of the player's time on the practice squad that season. The player was considered to have served a third season as a practice squad member if they were on the squad for at least one game that season.
Until the 2011 season, games in which a player is listed as the third-string quarterback did not count as being on the active list. Former quarterback Mike Quinn, who was listed as the third-string quarterback for several teams throughout his career, was practice squad eligible during his eighth NFL season.
In August 2014, eligibility was expanded by increasing the number of games in a season a player must be on the squad in order for that season to count as one of the player's three seasons of eligibility from three games to six games. Finally, each practice squad could include two players who have accrued too much playing time to be eligible for the squad under the previous rules, though these players may have no more than two accrued seasons in the league. Starting with the 2016 season, up to four veteran players were allowed to be on the practice squad. Beginning in 2022, up to six veteran players with two or more accrued seasons were allowed on a team's practice squad at a time.
Salaries
Since the 2021 season, there are two NFL practice squad salary scales. The first group is composed of rookies and players with two or fewer accrued seasons, while the second is for the NFL veterans with no limit to the accrued seasons in the league.The minimum weekly salary for practice squad players:
- 1993 to 1997: $3,300
- 1998 to 1999: $3,650
- 2000 to 2002: $4,000
- 2003 to 2004: $4,350
- 2006 to 2007: $4,700
- 2008 to 2010: $5,200
- 2011 to 2012: $5,700
- 2013: $6,000
- 2014: $6,300
- 2015: $6,600
- 2016: $6,900
- 2017: $7,200
- 2018: $7,600
- 2019: $8,000
- 2020: $8,400
- 2021: $9,200 / $14,000 / $14,000
- 2022: $11,500 / $15,400 / $19,900
- 2023: $12,000 / $16,100 / $20,600
- 2024: $12,500 / $16,800 / $21,300
- 2025: $13,000 / $17,500 / $22,000
- 2026: $13,750 / $18,350 / $22,850
- 2027: $14,500 / $19,200 / $23,700
- 2028: $15,250 / $20,050 / $24,550
- 2029: $16,000 / $20,900 / $25,400
- 2030: $16,750 / $21,750 / $26,250