Changes in practice-squad rules change how Seahawks coach, construct roster before cut day
For decades, the first goal of every player entering the NFL was basic. And the same.
“Make the 53.”
That is, the 53-man active roster for the regular season.
That’s what teams are cutting their 90-man preseason rosters to by the league’s deadline of 1 p.m. Tuesday.
For a young player especially, if you made the 53, you made it.
But this summer on the Seahawks, it’s not just about 53. Coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider have been talking about 69, keeping 69 of their 90 players. That includes the practice squad Carroll and Schneider will form Wednesday.
“The mentality that is in this locker room is special. It’s strong. It’s together. I couldn’t be more pleased with it,” Carroll said following Seattle’s final preseason game at the Green Bay Packers last weekend.
“You know, as we get through this weekend, you think about, ‘OK, here comes the change to the roster,’ and all that. Sixty-nine of these players are going to be with us. That’s a bunch of guys in this locker room that are going to stay with us.”
This echoes what Schneider said this month. The GM told Sirius XM radio he views this as not a 53- but 69-man team he and Carroll are forming for the start of the regular season.
The reason for this wider lens? The league’s recent changes to maintaining a 16-man practice squad. Seattle’s will be set after 1 p.m. Wednesday, the end of the league’s 24-hour waiver period of Tuesday’s cuts from 90 to 53.
The league also in recent years liberalized rules on making practice-squad players eligible for each game.
Practice-squad rules changes
It used to be a team must sign a player from the practice squad to the active roster, and have space on the 53-man roster to do that, in order for that player to play in a game. Then that player had to come off the active roster and pass back through league waivers to get back on the practice squad. The result was movement from practice squad to game-day roster and back only by exception, or extreme need.
Now teams have up to two practice-squad promotions per game, with a return to the practice squad after that game without involving the waiver process at all. The practice squad can also now have a limited number of veterans of any service time. The old rules made practice squads only for non-vested players still new or relatively new to the NFL.
The result: Practice squads are no longer strictly developmental taxi squads. They are extensions of the active roster that coaches and GMs have to manage to regularly use in games.
Carroll and Schneider have changed their roster construction and consideration accordingly. They are seeking 16 players on the practice squad whom they feel can best contribute in a specific role should one arise for a game, be it because of injury to an active-roster player, a particular matchup against an opponent, whatever.
The result is Carroll thinks about, messages to and plans for more than just the 53 players on the active roster. He seeks 69 players for the real games.
He says he wants all 69 guys, including the entire 16-man practice squad, to be from the 90-man preseason roster Seattle’s practiced and played preseason games with this month.
“I would love this group to be together. We are going to try to do that if we can,” Carroll said. “We will see how it goes. We will have some challenges about that.”
Usually can’t keep them all
By 1 p.m. Tuesday the Seahawks must drop in various ways — waive, veteran release, injured lists — 37 players by the league’s roster deadline. If Carroll truly wants all 16 current Seahawks on Seattle’s practice squad to begin the season, they all need to first clear league waivers.
Carroll acknowledged the possibility some teams will claim some Seahawks onto other 53-man rosters this week. That is why, for instance, Seattle isn’t going to risk undrafted rookie summer star Jake Bobo to waivers for the practice squad. Not after Bobo’s latest touchdown catch and impressive day against the Packers.
Easop Winston Jr., the former Washington State Cougars wide receiver, might also have a hard time getting through waivers onto Seattle’s practice squad following his standout preseason. His three catches for 74 yards on one drive in the fourth quarter got the Seahawks briefly into the lead at Green Bay on Saturday.
That increases the chances Winston makes the 53-man roster, particularly with injuries to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cody Thompson and Dareke Young plus the NFL suspension of Dee Eskridge at wide receiver.
“I think I put my best foot forward,” Winston said outside the locker room at Lambeau Field on Saturday. “That’s all I could do at the end of the day, and live with the results.”
The Seahawks this week are also likely to claim or sign as a free agent a player or three whom other teams have released. This is particularly the case at the shallow defensive-tackle spot.
“But the bulk of these guys are going to be with us,” Carroll said in Green Bay. “And I love that, because these guys are connected. They know how we play, what we expect, how we prepare ... and that’s only going to make us better.”
Carroll has been talking since May how connected the players on the 90-man offseason roster have been. He’s been consistent in his messaging, motivation and coaching to those players. He’s been vocal that these players have bought into the mentality he wants the Seahawks to have for the season.
That was his message to the players in the locker room after the preseason games ended Saturday.
“Right now, there are a bunch of guys that know how they fit on this team and what their role is. I like to keep it as solid as we can,” Carroll said. “It probably isn’t possible to get it all, but I want those guys to know we want them in our locker room.”
Carroll was asked if the league’s new practice-squad rules have expanded how he constructs and coaches in the offseason and preseason.
“I think we are more aware of how many guys we are really managing to be on the squad and in the locker room with us,” he said.
“This is a really good place. These guys have been part of it and I want to keep that going as best as we can, because we have a chance to have a really good club.”
This story was originally published August 28, 2023 at 12:08 PM.
