Practice Squads:
The newly agreed upon CBA that the NFL and the NFL Players Association agreed upon increased the size of practice squad rosters from 10 players to 12 players for 2020. (It will increase again to 14 in 2022).
With the Covid-19 pandemic likely to impact all 32 NFL rosters, the league agreed to expand practice squad rosters to 16 players, including six veterans (unlimited number of accrued seasons) rather than two.
The players who are eligible to be added to practice squad rosters:
Players who do not have an accrued season of NFL experience (rookies)
Players who were on the active list for fewer than nine regular-season games during their only accrued season(s)
Up to four players per team who have earned no more than two accrued seasons (no game limitations)
Up to two (six in 2020) players per team with no limitations as to their number of earned accrued seasons
A player on a practice squad is free to sign with another team at any point, but a team that signs a player from another’s practice squad must add the player to its 53-man roster. There are no practice squad-to-practice squad transactions.
During the pandemic, teams are allowed to protect up to four practice squad players each week from other teams and will also be allowed to promote one or two players from their practice squads to increase their rosters from 53 players to 55 players on game days. Any practice squad player promoted in such a way would revert to the practice squad roster after the game.