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The New Orleans Saints promoted two players from their practice squad on Saturday, adding veteran defensive lineman Margus Hunt and wide receiver Bennie Fowler Jr. to their Week 1 game day roster. Both players should be expected to suit up for Sunday’s season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
One of the changes the NFL adopted this summer in its new collective bargaining agreement with the players union is an expanded active roster on game days, which allows teams to activate two players from the practice squad for a game before they revert back on the following day. Teams are required to promote one player from the practice squad, but can call up a second member if they’ve already dressed eight offensive linemen.
While this isn’t the same thing as a real expanded roster to 55 players, it functions very similarly. The new CBA does account for roster expansion in the years ahead, but the NFL is determined to get there incrementally.
Anyway: Hunt should be a welcome addition in the wake of Marcus Davenport’s injury, putting the eighth-year veteran into the lineup. Hunt has appeared in 95 games in the NFL and should fit right in across from Cameron Jordan. If Fowler is going to also dress out for this game, it means the Saints would have six wide receivers activated: starters Michael Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, third-year pro Tre’Quan Smith, and core special teamers Deonte Harris and Marquez Callaway (a rookie out of Tennessee who flashed as a gunner and return man).
The Saints must be very judicious in how they use these practice squad promotions moving forward. Each member of the practice squad may only be called up twice in a season (including the playoffs) or else they have to be signed to the 53-man roster.
On the other side of the field, the Buccaneers have promoted two of their own practice squad players: cornerback Mazzi Wilkins and wide receiver Cyril Grayson Jr. Grayson, a former LSU Tigers track and field star, spent training camp with the Saints last year before showing out for Tampa Bay as a returns specialist.
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