The Philadelphia Eagles logged another training camp in the books and as the team begins preparation for the season opener at Washington, Howie Roseman and company will embark on cutting down the roster to 53 players, while building a 16 man practice squad.
Here are the rules for the roster cutdowns, the schedule, and the deadline for the Eagles to be at 53 players:
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Sept. 5: Prior to 4:00 p.m., New York time, the Eagles and 31 other NFL clubs must reduce rosters to a maximum of 53 players on the Active/Inactive List.
Sept. 6: Waiver Claim Deadline
The claiming period for players placed on waivers at the final roster reduction will expire at 12:00 noon, New York time.
Upon receipt of the Personnel Notice at approximately 1:00 p.m., New York time, clubs may establish a practice squad of 16 players (clubs participating in the International Player Development Program may sign one additional international player to a Practice Player Contract.) No club, including the player’s prior club, will be permitted to sign a player to a practice player contract until all clubs have received simultaneous notification via the above Personnel Notice that such player’s prior NFL player contract has been terminated via the waiver system.
Sept. 10: At 12:00 a.m., New York time, the Top 51 Rule expires for all NFL clubs. All teams must be under the salary cap
Sept. 10, 13-14: Regular Season Week 1.
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.
