In most NFL seasons, a team’s practice squad doesn’t garner a huge amount of attention. But as should be abundantly clear at this point, this isn’t most seasons – and with teams looking to build depth ahead of a potentially tumultuous season and the rules around the practice squad changing to accommodate for this, the practice squad players in 2020 will be more relevant than they ever have been before.
Efe Obada, Reggie Bonnafon, and Matt Paradis have all spent time on the practice squad in the past – whose name will be on that list in a couple of years?
Rule Changes To Benefit Teams
The most obvious and straightforward change that has been made is that the size of the practice squad has increased from the 12 players that were agreed under the new CBA to 16. The rationale for this is pretty straightforward – if you are expected to have more players than usual either get sick or get injured and it’s going to be harder to bring in new players in short notice due to the COVID restrictions, you are going to need to have more players around who you can call on at short notice and who are familiar with your scheme.
Historically, the practice squad has been used as a place to try and develop young players who aren’t quite good enough to make the roster and to give you some bodies to help with practices – while it will likely continue to fill both those functions, it will now have the added responsibility to act as an in-house injury/illness reserve group – in 2020, it’s all-but-impossible to get a player up to speed between one game and the next:
“Well for one thing, you can’t bring a player in for a workout right now,” explained GM Marty Hurney. “So the only thing you can do is bring a player in for a visit and you can’t bring him in the building , he’s got to go to the doctor’s office and you really bring him in for that physical, then he’s got to through the COVID testing which would be days 1,2 and 4.”
“So, from a logistical standpoint, certainly, its very different … it’s not like it was before where you could bring a guy in and really have him involved in meetings and everything the next day. I think that’s probably the biggest challenge of it is the timing part and having to go through that process where you can’t even bring that player into the building until five days after you start the process.”
Many of the other changes that have come with the increase in size are there to help facilitate this function – the fact that six players on the practice squad can be there with no restrictions on their accrued seasons is so that teams can place veterans on the practice squad, which doesn’t make any sense in terms of developing young players or make much difference in terms of practice bodies, but does make a huge difference if you are going to ask somebody to go from the practice squad one week to playing on Sunday.
It’s not that young players can’t do this, but teams will likely feel far more secure sticking a veteran in for a game or two than trusting the job to somebody who’s never really seen an NFL field before. Under the new CBA, teams can also have up to four additional players with two accrued seasons, with at least six of the players on the practice squad having to have no more than one NFL accrued season and who played less than 9 games in their accrued season.
The other change is that players can be promoted to the active roster up to 90 mins before kickoff for a game and then returned to the practice squad up to two times a season without having to clear waivers (On the third time, they would then have to clear waivers). Crucially, in the case of an outbreak, the number of player who could be elevated to the roster in this fashion is unlimited, whereas under the new CBA it was limited to two players. In addition, teams can protect up to four players per week from being poached by other teams.
Again, this makes sense if you are looking at the practice squad as injury/sickness cover – this allows teams to counter the short-term impact of a large-scale outbreak or forced isolation even if it would likely have a significant impact during the game, they would hopefully be able to avoid having to forfeit.
“You’re thinking about how important your practice squad is going to be during the season because I would think that’s where you’re going to go first as far as bringing players up if you have injuries or if you have somebody on Reserve/COVID,” Hurney spelled out at the beginning of camp. “Because they’ve been through your testing process and they can participate in your meetings and practices like they have been doing as practice squad players and you can make that transition much easier.”
“So I think you’re thinking in different terms as far as not only a group of 53, but a group of 69 – and that might be the biggest difference.”
Practice Squad Projection
To be clear, these projections are based off the roster prediction we’ve already done, so if you’re wondering why somebody isn’t listed here it’s probably because I expect them to make the active roster. I’ve also indicated who I think the Panthers might protect – although this could change on a week-to-week basis – with a (P) after their names.
Offensive Skill Positions
Jordan Scarlett, Brandon Zylstra, Colin Thompson and Giovanni Ricci
Having only placed three running backs on the active roster, the Panthers will likely want to have some depth on the practice squad, creating a direct competition between 2019 draft pick Scarlett and recent waiver addition Trenton Cannon. It’s still too early in camp to have much of a view of Cannon and this is still a spot he is capable of winning, but with Scarlett still quite young and having some developmental potential, I think he has the edge here. At receiver, despite having seven on the active roster, given how much the Panthers are expected to spend in three- and four- receivers sets this season, it makes sense for them to have some receiver depth on the practice squad.
The tight end position is one that Matt Rhule highlighted as one of the more important depth battles in camp, and while I have Alex Armah making the roster as the #3 TE, I think that spot is very much open for change.
With that in mind, however, I think the Panthers may well look to keep their options open in that regard and that is why I have two TEs making the practice squad. While Thompson (who played at Temple with Rhule) is more of a short-term injury cover and potential competition for Armah as the #3 TE, Ricci offers more developmental value and could be left on the PS if possible before seeing a more genuine battle for a roster spot in 2021.
Offensive and Defensive Linemen
Matt Kaskey, Sam Tecklenburg, Tyler Larsen (P), DaVonte Lambert, Myles Adams (P) and Woodrow Hamilton
With some uncertainty over Russel Okung’s status, the Panthers would be wise to carry another offensive tackle on the practice squad in addition to the four on the active roster – while I wouldn’t count Monteiro out of that discussion, Kaskey is the more interesting option, having spent much of the 2019 season on their practice squad after going undrafted out of Dartmouth before getting promoted to the active roster late in 2019.
Tecklenburg is another UDFA, having actually retired from football after college, but was talked out of retirement by Rhule and I think should be the favorite of the two UDFA iOLs to make the cut. Tyler Larsen is one of two notable veterans to make the practice squad, and I think he does still have a real chance of making the active roster; but having struggled last preseason, I think he is probably better value as an emergency injury cover who can play both center and guard.
On the defensive side of the ball, with Christian Miller opting out and Chris Smith being cut, the Panthers are actually quite thin at defensive end, a major reason why I only have five edge rushers on my roster projection – so it makes sense for them to carry some cover here. Adams was somebody that Matt Rhule mentioned as having been a pleasant surprise this week, and while I think he will likely struggle to make the roster, he could well be somebody who gets a year on the practice squad to continue to develop with a view to him competing for a roster spot in 2021.
Linebackers and Defensive Backs
LB Jordan Kunaszyk
Sam Franklin, Jordan Kunaszyk (P), Adarius Taylor (P), Corn Elder, Cole Luke and Myles Hartsfield
When speaking to the media on Friday, Matt Rhule made it very clear how much competition they expect their to be through camp among the linebackers not named Whitehead or Thompson:
“I do think there’s a real battle for who the next guys are going to be,” said Rhule. “Jermaine Carter’s has done a nice job so far, Andre Smith, JK; there’s a lot of guys who’ve been here. We’ve brought in some undrafted guys, obviously drafting Chinn, bringing in Sam Franklin, signing AG Taylor the other day whose played a lot of football.”
“I think we’re looking for two things really, we want some guys who can go in the game and play on defense and give us some legs and run, and also looking for great special teams. We believe one of our advantages is that we’re going to try and win with special teams, and so that battle and trying to get as many run-and-hit bodies in here as possible and really shore up the special teams … I think backup linebacker is a real competition right now.”
In my roster projection, I had the Panthers keeping Carter, Smith and Tezino on the active roster – while there is a very real chance that the Panthers look to change at least one of those names or even keep an additional linebacker on the roster, it seems clear that Carolina is looking to generate a lot of competition for depth at linebacker, not just during training camp, but likely going throughout the 2020 season as they look to establish the core of group to build around in 2021 and beyond.
With that in mind I have three linebackers making the practice squad, and for three quite different reasons. Sam Franklin was somebody Rhule mentioned a couple of times on Friday, and drew an interesting comparison between him and another rookie on the Panthers:
“You know we have a lot of guys that are probably cross doing a couple of different things so like Chinn and some of those guys are playing the big nickel and playing safety, Sam Franklin’s doing that,” said Rhule.
While the Panthers have so many hybrid defensive players on the roster right now that it seems unlikely that they will all make the active roster, it seems as though this is something the Panthers are going to continue to value under Rhule and Snow going forward – so even if Franklin does miss out on the active roster, I think he is somebody the Panthers would like to keep around with an eye to the future.
Jordan Kunaszyk, by comparison, was somebody who impressed enough in camp last year to make the active roster and did see some playing time on special teams. Of the three I have on the practice squad, I think he is the most likely to make the active roster, but I am not sure he is the best suited by the move back to a 4-3 and could end up being the guy who misses out on the active roster only to find himself on the practice squad.
With the defensive backs, Cole Luke and Corn Elder are fairly known entities for Panthers fans, but both have enough NFL experience that they can offer injury cover value, with Luke in particular being able to cover both nickel and safety roles. I think Luke might have a chance to make the active roster over Derrek Thomas, but I think whichever of them misses out will be a prime candidate for the practice squad given the youth of the Panthers’ cornerback room.
