After the NFL’s annual roster cutdown day, there is a flurry of practice-squad signings across the league. Each team has a practice squad, which is a group of players who aren’t on the active roster but can practice and be elevated on game days.
The NFL changed its roster trimming process in 2023, with owners voting to have a single cutdown day rather than spreading the cuts across multiple dates. This means that roughly 1,000 players hit the free-agent pool at the same time, and teams rush to add players either to their active 53-man roster or practice squad.
For the players who are signed to a practice squad, how much money do they earn? What are the rules surrounding the practice squad, and how have they changed in recent years? Here’s everything you need to know.
NFL Practice Squad Salaries
Not all practice-squad players are paid the same, as there is a tiered pay system based on each player’s number of years in the NFL. For players with less than two accrued NFL seasons, they earn $12,500 each week that they are on the practice squad. The amount increases yearly until the current CBA expires, following the scale below:
- 2024: $12,500
- 2025: $13,000
- 2026: $13,750
- 2027: $14,500
- 2028: $15,250
- 2029: $16,000
- 2030: $16,750
Players who have accrued more than two seasons of NFL experience are paid between $16,800 and $21,300 each week they are on the practice squad, depending on what their agent negotiates. They can negotiate their salary based on the windows below:
- 2024: $16,800 – $21,300
- 2025: $17,500 – $22,000
- 2026: $18,350 – $22,850
- 2027: $19,200 – $23,700
- 2028: $20,900 – $25,400
- 2029: $20,900 – $25,400
- 2030: $21,750 – $26,250
How Many Players Can Be on an NFL Practice Squad?
Due to COVID and the number of players unavailable throughout the 2020 NFL season, the league changed the practice-squad rules. Initially, the NFL was going to increase the size of practice squads from 12 players to 14. However, the pandemic caused the league to increase the number of practice-squad slots to 16 per team.
The change was so well received that the NFL decided to stick with it beyond that season, and practice squads have featured 16 players ever since. It’s worth noting that only six of the 16 players are allowed to have an unlimited number of accrued seasons.
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Opposing teams can sign players from a rival franchise’s practice squad, but each team has four “protected” practice-squad players that cannot be signed. Teams select their four protected players each week.
If a player is signed to a new team from a practice squad, they need to be signed to that team’s 53-man active roster and not onto the practice squad.
Who Is Eligible To Be on an NFL Practice Squad?
Not all players are eligible to be on an NFL team’s practice squad. Rookies cannot be placed on the practice squad. Additionally, players who were on the active list for fewer than nine regular-season games during their only accrued NFL season are also ineligible.
When a player is elevated from the practice squad on game days, they count toward the 48-player limit that each roster needs to present.
Only two practice-squad players can be elevated for the same game, and players can only be elevated three times until they need to be signed onto the active roster.