The NFL practice squad rule changes in 2020 helped navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, years later, players and coaches remain supporters of the changes.
As teams navigated the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the NFL and the players’ association negotiated one of the most notable, sweeping rule changes in the modern era. The two sides came together and agreed on expanding the practice squad from 10 to 16 players, granted the ability to promote two players from the practice squad to the play in games, and most notably, allowed up to six of the 16 players to have unlimited NFL experience as opposed to no more than two accrued NFL seasons for eligibility.
The changes benefitted teams enduring the pandemic. It created 192 more jobs across the NFL. And in 2021, Baltimore Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh praised the change and wished it to remain long after the pandemic subsided.
“Hopefully they will consider these rules long-term, because it gives you more roster flexibility,” Harbaugh said. “When you do sustain an injury, it allows players to be prepared when they go out there and play as opposed to guys who haven’t practiced.”
Harbaugh’s hopes were answered as the rules have remained.
Since the changes, the Ravens have been among the NFL’s most active participants in adding veteran talent to their practice squad. In 2021, they began the season with five veterans. A week later, they added running backs Le’Veon Bell and Devonta Freeman. The following two years they’ve added big names Laquon Treadwell, DeSean Jackson, Melvin Gordon, Dalvin Cook and Kenyan Drake.
Now, weeks into the 2024 season, the Ravens have five veterans on their practice squad: cornerback Ka’dar Hollman, defensive lineman Chris Wormley, defensive end Yannick Ngakoue and wide receivers Keith Kirkwood and Anthony Miller.
As Harbaugh praised the change in 2021, he remains a proponent of the rule to this day, citing the benefits of health, workload, jobs, extending careers and getting in game shape. But do the players agree?
Game Shape
Far and away, players agreed the ability to participate in practice and work themselves into game shape is a great boon. To each player, no workout replicates football.
“You can work out, you can lift weights, you can run and do football drills as much as you want in the offseason, but nothing replicates putting on the pads,” Wormley said. “You have to take those hits and know how your feet move and how your hands go and be in the right position. Nothing replaces actually playing football. I mean, last Wednesday I put the pads on for the first time in eight months and Wednesday night and Thursday morning, I felt it waking up. …Just those little cues that you can kind of pick up on week after week are really huge and beneficial.”
Each player expressed there are stark differences between workout shape and game shape.
“You’ve got to understand, somebody can be on the outside working out as many days as they want. That does not mean they’re in game shape,” Hollman said. “When you tell the team you’re in shape, it does not mean anything to them because you haven’t been on that field. You’ve been at home doing whatever you’re doing. It’s a different type of shape.”
Extending Careers
Before the rule changes, players were given just two years of eligibility before being ousted. If they couldn’t hack it, they were out. That means for a player like Kirkwood, he’d be five years into playing football in other leagues or done with his dream entirely.
“I definitely don’t think I’d be in the NFL right now, to be completely honest with you,” Kirkwood said. “I know a lot of guys that when I came out as a rookie, there was a lot of great talent, a lot of great veterans that had knowledge of the game that probably still would have been in the NFL, but because of the strict rules of the CBA back then, a lot of guys unfortunately had to go play off into the CFL, Arena Football League and those guys missed out on a lot of opportunities I’m fortunate enough to have now.”
The changes also help give grace to players returning from injury. In December 2022, Wormley suffered a torn ACL and was put on season-ending injured reserve. A year later, he joined the Carolina Panthers practice squad as he recovered from injury. Now, two years removed from the injury, he signed with the Ravens’ practice squad and continues to work back onto an active roster. Had the rules not been in place though, would he still be in the NFL?
“I thought about that. Cause I knew how it was four, five years ago when there were guys who just had to wait, cross their fingers and hope they got called to an active roster. Probably not, because if this wasn’t a rule and where I’m at now, I wouldn’t be on the roster. I’m not on the roster now so probably not, honestly. So, I think the rule helps out not only the veterans but younger guys, too.”
Are There Negatives?
For all the noted benefits, a few players shared it’s not flawless system. Teams can now circumvent paying a player an active roster salary and instead sign them to the practice squad and elevate them three times.
“Since this rule has come into place, there’s a lot of factors. Some business decisions, some of them are skillset decisions,” Hollman, who has been elevated twice for the Ravens said. “…It’s another way to get over the 53-man roster rule. Some veterans can see it as, ‘Now they have a way to not put me on the 53 and just keep me on the practice squad.’”
Kirkwood went in-depth on how it can be challenging, but ultimately the benefits are there.
“There is some negative in that because if you don’t make the 53 initially and your number is not called, there’s really no film out there for other teams to give you another opportunity to make their squad,” Kirkwood said. “I think the best thing that you can do as a veteran is build relationships because you may never know who [assistants] are. I’ll give you an example. I’m in New Orleans my first year with Joe Brady and he’s an assistant. Now he’s the offensive coordinator and we’re playing against him in [Week 4 against the Bills] and those relationships, you never know where it will land you even though there is no film that I’m producing right now. But I got a guy like that knows who I am and can trust and who was with me in Carolina, too.”
Wormley hadn’t considered the circumvention, but even so, doesn’t see the negatives outweighing the positives.
“I haven’t really thought of it that way,” Wormley said. “Last year, I was on the practice squad too with the Panthers and they actually brought me on before I was actually healthy, which I thought was a benefit to come back from my knee injury two years ago now. But I see it as a benefit all around just to get back into that football shape, especially if you’ve missed OTAs in camp like I did these past two seasons. It’s given me an opportunity to contribute in a different way, but I’m excited to be here.”