Understanding NFL roster rules changes for 2020 (2 Viewers)

[joejr]

You have to look at it as a 46 man roster with 7 extra slots. That way if the Saints have a bunch of injuries, for instance, but the Falcons have a 53 healthy players, it levels the playing field. You don't have one team with 53 healthy players to sub in/out and the other team with only 46 and 7 playing hurt.

In today's watered down league the back end of rosters aren't that different. The last 20 or so players including practice squad you can throw in a barrel & blindly pick a replacement. It's the top 40 or so who count. It still doesn't make since. It is still just a number. Why not 47 or 48 or 49? Make it better by changing IR designation rules & kickers & snappers don't count against your roster numbers. It's all about parity & this is a rule that keeps parity.

 

[WxM]

"Any player who is elevated to a Club’s Active/Inactive List for a regular season or postseason game pursuant to this Section 5 shall automatically revert to the Club’s Practice Squad at 4:00 p.m., New York time, on the first business day following such game without being subject to waivers."

A good example of how this might impact the Saints is with a player like Dan Arnold. Arnold spent most of the season on the practice squad. When the Saints needed him due to injuries, they brought him up to the 53. When they needed someone else due to injuries at another position, they had to make room and chose to waive Arnold. If he cleared waivers, he could then go the PS. Except he didn't, and now there are stories like the one that came out yesterday saying that he could "make a real impact for Arizona."

If this rule had been in effect last year, the Saints could have simply designated Arnold as one of their two players to add to the active list for the game without terminating his practice squad contract, which means the day after the game, he'd be on the practice squad with no waivers. Dan Arnold would be a Saint today in that scenario. Well, until you keep reading the rest of the rules. Consider this:

"A Practice Squad player may be elevated to a Club’s Active/Inactive List for a maximum combination of two regular season or postseason games in the same League Year. After a Club has elevated a player to its Active/Inactive List for a maximum combination of two games during the regular season or postseason, any subsequent elevation of the player must be an activation to the Club’s 53-player Active/Inactive List."

Arnold did play in only two games last year for us, but he was on the inactive list for other games. So he would have ended up being waived anyway. But knowing this, maybe the Saints would have managed things differently. It sounds like this rule is good for someone who misses a game, but not something that can be used over and over again for the same guy.

This takes me back to the "plus 2" part. Yes, it's plus 2. And there's 12 men on the practice squad. So that means if you cycle through the whole season, you're left with four games plus the postseason where you're out of plus 2 players. So that means either a team is not going to use the plus 2 every week, or they're going to have to cycle in a bunch of extra players off the street to the PS. Guess which one seems like a Payton move? I suppose there's a third scenario where you could waive guys at the end of the roster, hope they clear, sign them to the PS, backfill the 53 with 2 existing PS players, then designate the guys you just waived as the plus 2.

"Beginning in the 2020 League Year, the Practice Squad shall consist of the following players...a maximum of two free agent players per Club with no limitations as to their number of earned Accrued Seasons."

That means we could put 2 vets like Michael Ola (he's not on the team now; just an example) on the PS if we wanted to, instead of bumping him on and off the main roster constantly.

One other note you might recall from other discussions is that practice squad salaries are now locked in. You can't give guys big salary raises to keep them on your PS anymore. However, you could still (at least for 2 games) designate them as plus 2 players, at which time they would make the league minimum. That is a reason you could theoretically see a team use a player as a plus 2, only to have him inactive for the game.

 

[superchuck500]

"Any player who is elevated to a Club’s Active/Inactive List for a regular season or postseason game pursuant to this Section 5 shall automatically revert to the Club’s Practice Squad at 4:00 p.m., New York time, on the first business day following such game without being subject to waivers."

A good example of how this might impact the Saints is with a player like Dan Arnold. Arnold spent most of the season on the practice squad. When the Saints needed him due to injuries, they brought him up to the 53. When they needed someone else due to injuries at another position, they had to make room and chose to waive Arnold. If he cleared waivers, he could then go the PS. Except he didn't, and now there are stories like the one that came out yesterday saying that he could "make a real impact for Arizona."

If this rule had been in effect last year, the Saints could have simply designated Arnold as one of their two players to add to the active list for the game without terminating his practice squad contract, which means the day after the game, he'd be on the practice squad with no waivers. Dan Arnold would be a Saint today in that scenario. Well, until you keep reading the rest of the rules. Consider this:

"A Practice Squad player may be elevated to a Club’s Active/Inactive List for a maximum combination of two regular season or postseason games in the same League Year. After a Club has elevated a player to its Active/Inactive List for a maximum combination of two games during the regular season or postseason, any subsequent elevation of the player must be an activation to the Club’s 53-player Active/Inactive List."

Arnold did play in only two games last year for us, but he was on the inactive list for other games. So he would have ended up being waived anyway. But knowing this, maybe the Saints would have managed things differently. It sounds like this rule is good for someone who misses a game, but not something that can be used over and over again for the same guy.

It's a good spot that the player automatically goes back to PS without waivers. I'm not sure how much protection it really gives the team though - the only thing is it means the player has a choice rather than having his rights automatically assigned to the claiming team. A waiver claim means the player goes to the claiming team's 53-man roster anyway. But teams can sign anyone's PS players to their active roster . . . true, the player can decline the offer, but most don't because the money is so much better.

When the Cardinals claimed Arnold off waivers, he went to their active roster - and I think he stayed on the 53 for the rest of the year making league minimum. In just a month with the Cardinals Arnold made almost $135K, while making just $100K with the Saints for 12 games.

The only difference between the Cardinals taking Arnold on waivers and signing him to their 53 after waivers is that Arnold would have had a choice in the matter. It's possible Kingsbury could have convinced Arnold to sign with Arizona - even without waivers.

But yeah, you can only do it twice for any given player. It's going to be interesting to watch how it plays out.

 

[Taker597]

I don't understand the gameday roster. Why can't it just be the complete team?

 

[Stalwart385]

I don't understand the gameday roster. Why can't it just be the complete team?

The way oysters explained it earlier makes sense to me.

It's basically just a 48 man roster with a buffer. That way you can still keep banged up or developing players on your roster that aren't game ready and not be at a disadvantage.