After waiver claims are processed on Wednesday, NFL teams can begin building 16-player practice squads to complement their 53-man rosters for the 2023 season.
After the Denver Broncos’ preseason finale last week, coach Sean Payton was asked what he’s looking for when building a practice squad.
“It’s important when you’re talking about practice squad players [to ask], ‘Are they developmental?'” Payton said. “Are they guys that you feel like have an upside curve to it? Coaches – all of us in general can be very protective and say, ‘This guy would be a perfect practice squad player.’ Well, he’s not if you don’t see an upside to become a ’53-[man roster] player.’ With the way the rules are now, there’s so much flexibility. I know it’s 53 [active roster players] and 16 [practice squad players] but I look at it much differently.
“I look at it as that’s the entire roster. We’ll put up there — once we get this roster cleaned up. We’ll put the current undrafted players that our league [has] seen in the last 20 years and guys that have been on the practice squad in the last 20 years, and it’s amazing to see [that] many of them are on big contracts now. I think there has to be a clean and correct vision for a practice squad player and I think that you’re gathering all of the information you need [to make that decision]. Every team this year will have players coming off that 16-[man practice squad] and playing significant roles.”
Last year, Denver’s initial practice squad included offensive lineman Quinn Bailey, wide receiver Kendall Hinton, defensive lineman Jonathan Harris and cornerbacks JaQuan McMillian and Essang Bassey. All five of those players spent time on game day rosters and got playing time last season. Harris could end up starting this fall and Bassey and McMillian will have important roles in the secondary.
The practice squad isn’t as glamorous as the active roster, but it can prove to be an important stepping stone for young NFL players.
