A spot on an NFL team’s practice squad serves as a desperate last hold onto the dream of playing professional football. Every year, each franchise is given 10 spots to stash developmental players—young guys with ideal size or perfect length or incredible athleticism who just can’t seem to put it all together. The hope is that further time practicing with the team will help them turn the corner.
Every year, 320 players begin the regular season on a team’s practice squad and hundreds more are rotated in and out as the season wears on. The reason it’s a desperate last hold is that most players end up silently slipping off of a team’s radar, making nothing but a minor blip on the league’s transaction wire.