Monday brought a report that the NFL and NFLPA had agreed to expand the size of practice squads to 10 players for the coming season and Tuesday brought official confirmation of that change.
According to a release from the league, the NFL and the union have agreed to expand the size of the squads for the next two seasons with the former eight-man limit coming back into effect for the 2016 season “barring extension” of the change. That means 64 more jobs will be available in each of the next two seasons, brightening the prospects of many players as we head toward cutdown day.
And it isn’t just players previously eligible for the practice squad either. The league also announced that each team will be able to sign two players “who have earned no more than two accrued seasons of free agency credit.” Otherwise players who have earned one or more accrued seasons would not be eligible for the practice squad unless they spent fewer than nine games on the 46-man gameday roster during those seasons.
One other change will allow players to hold onto practice squad eligibility longer. Players now need to have a minimum of six games on the practice squad, up from three, for the year to count as one of the three that they are eligible to be placed on the practice squad.