The NFL and NFLPA made a lot of progress on Friday in their negotiations of several matters that will allow the 2020 training camps and regular season to start on time. One of the several items negotiated on Friday were team practice squad sizes and rules associated with that unit.
According to Mark Maske of the Washington Post, the NFL approved a proposal which would expand team practice squads to 16 players. Additionally, that proposal also includes giving teams the ability to protect four players from other teams on a weekly basis. Six of those players can have unlimited number of accrued seasons.
This is a big development and essentially allows teams to have rosters larger than 53 players this season. I would still assume, however, that players would need to clear waivers before Week 1 before signing as practice squad players.
This is big news even though practice squads had already been expanded to 12 players this years as part of the new CBA agreement. Additionally, new rules also allow teams to automatically promote up to two practice-squad players to the 53-man roster each week, increasing the roster to 54 or 55.
