September 03, 2020
The NFL made several roster rule changes this year, in anticipation of added maneuverability to account for potential COVID-related issues. Because 53-man cutdowns are coming on Saturday, perhaps it's a good time to review those new rules, and how they may be specifically applicable to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Let's go down the nerd hole.
To begin, NFL practice squads were expanded to 16 players in 2020, which can include as many as six veterans (with no limit on their number of accrued seasons).
Every week during the regular season, each team will have the ability to designate four players on their practice squads that other teams around the league are unable to poach. Previously, if a team wanted to sign a player to their active roster from another team's practice squad, those players were fair game.
For example, the Eagles poached Jake Elliott off the Bengals' practice squad in 2017. Had the Bengals had the ability to protect him, there's maybe an alternate Universe in which Odell Beckham Jr. returns some other kicker's short 61-yard field goal attempt for a touchdown, the Eagles go 8-8, and still don't have a Super Bowl.
How does this affect the Eagles? In 2020, I do believe this rule will be advantageous to the Eagles in a season in which they selected 10 players in the draft. With so many young players to fit onto the roster, being able to protect four players each week will allow them to roster the young guys, while keeping other back-of-the-roster veterans on the practice squad for potential part-time duty on game day. (We'll get to that shortly.)
Additionally, the Eagles have already been hit hard by the injury bug, and if recent history is any indication, that will continue into the regular season. In 2019, the Eagles called up a slew of practice squad guys to the active roster, most notably Boston Scott and Greg Ward, who helped the Eagles get to the playoffs. The bigger the practice squad, the more options they have at their disposal.
In the past, if you were a player who went on injured reserve, it meant your season was over. In 2012, the NFL allowed for one player to return from injured reserve after eight games, which they later upped to two players.
Injured reserve will look completely different this season, as a result of two key changes:
How does this affect the Eagles? The new IR-DFR rules should benefit the entire league, but especially an injury-prone team like the Eagles. I can think of at least a half dozen examples in which the Eagles could have used this designation on players a year ago, but instead were forced to keep them on the active roster while they healed from injury.
For an example of a situation where it might make sense in 2020, on Wednesday, it was revealed that safety Will Parks will be out around 3-4 weeks with a hamstring injury. Had he suffered that injury during the regular season, he would have been a good candidate for this new version of IR.
When teams make final cuts on Saturday, they will have to get down to 53 players. However, there could be times this year in which the Eagles will have 55 players on their active roster.
Teams will have the option of elevating up to two players from their practice squad to the active roster during game week. The deadline to do so will be at 4:00 p.m. the day before a game. Those players could then be sent back to the practice squad the day after the game without having to go on waivers.
It is not mandatory to temporarily elevate players from the practice squad each week, and actually, teams will have to be judicious in their usage of this roster tool. You can elevate a player for a game and safely return them to the practice squad twice, but if you elevate that same player for a third time, he must go through waivers before he can be added back to the practice squad again.
How does this affect the Eagles? Again, given the Eagles' extreme usage of the practice squad last season, the more flexibility, the better.
And finally, game day rosters were expanded from 46 players to 48 this season, but each team must have eight active offensive linemen. Normally, there would be seven inactives on game day. This year there will be anywhere from five to seven inactives, depending on the number of practice squad call-ups.
How does that affect the Eagles? Given their OL injury woes, and the fact that Jason Peters often exits games early, having three reserve offensive lineman on game day is certainly welcomed.
I'm sure this was all easily digestible content.
Follow Jimmy & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @JimmyKempski | @thePhillyVoice
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
Add Jimmy's RSS feed to your feed reader
