How many players are on an NFL practice squad?

The start of the 2024 NFL regular season is just around the corner, with the opening game taking place on Thursday, September 5, when the Kansas City Chiefs will host the Baltimore Ravens at Arrowhead Stadium.

When is the 2024 NFL roster deadline?

Before then, though, head coaches across the league have big decisions to make based on what they’ve seen in training camps and during preseason, with all rosters having to be cut to 53 players by 4pm ET on Tuesday (August 27).

Those 53 players must be squeezed into 48-man active game-day rosters, with five players inactive in each game. Given the bumps and bruises NFL players take throughout the season, those five often choose themselves.

In addition to the 53 players who make up the main roster, teams also have a 16-man practice squad, usually made up of players who haven’t made the original cut. That number, however, could rise to 17 if it includes a player from the International Pathway Program.

What do NFL practice squad players actually do?

As you might gather form the name, practice squad players, who earn considerably less than fully-fledged stars, mainly serve as extra help during practice sessions between games. In some ways, they are literally there to make up the numbers, but they also have a regular chance to impress throughout the season and force their way onto the main roster.

Practice squad players have the opportunity to be called up to their team’s main 53-man roster depending on injuries or trades later in the season.

Not only that, though, NFL teams are also allowed to poach practice squad players from other teams for their main roster as long as they take someone out by either trading them, waiving them or placing them on the PUP list. They cannot, though, take them for their own practice squad.