The reality of NFL practice squad players on the move
Moving at a moment’s notice. Finding temporary housing. Learning new playbooks. An NFL practice squad player leads a journeyman lifestyle — often without a paycheck that makes the path worthwhile.
By Natalie Weiner Jan 15, 2019, 10:09am ESTSHARE
The moment that Treyvon Hester, a defensive tackle who started the 2018 season on the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad, reached up and snagged the edge of the ball Bears kicker Cody Parkey had just sent towards the uprights, sealing his team’s playoff win, he became a very particular kind of hero. Instantly, Hester was the star of a familiar, irresistible NFL narrative: the underdog player who scrapped his way onto the team and wound up indispensable.
The NFL players who still haven’t had their primetime breakthrough rely on that narrative, too. “You hear all those undrafted success stories ... I mean I was in Seattle, so I had a bunch of examples right in front of me,” says Tyvis Powell, an undrafted safety who has played for five different teams in two years since spending his rookie season with the Seahawks. “I was like, ‘I’m going to be the next one to do that.’ Things just haven’t worked out that way, but the good thing is that I keep getting opportunities.”
The price of taking those opportunities, though, is much steeper than fans might imagine. Players at the bottom of the roster and on the practice squad have to be prepared to move across the country at a moment’s notice, for reasons that may have nothing to do with their own performance: a player in a different position group gets hurt, so suddenly adding depth there takes priority.
Those moves are only partially subsidized by teams, cutting into what are already comparatively modest practice squad salaries. Powell, who moved from the Niners to the Jets and back again during the 2018 season, estimates in his career he’s spent $15,000 just on relocating to play. “It’s unfortunate, but it is a job,” he says. “I’ve come to learn it’s better than nothing.”
There were 447 additions to NFL practice squads after Week 1, when teams sign their first 10-player practice squad. Though a number of those transactions account for players moving on and off of the practice squad of the same team, it suggests that the majority of NFL practice squad players had to move at least once mid-season — meaning the squad’s instability affected a wide swath of NFL players.
And even if their checks look substantial from the outside, if you account for taxes and the fact that they’re meant to sustain players over the course of the entire offseason, it’s clear the money is not enough to support the flexibility the position requires. It’s a journeyman lifestyle, but often without the active roster paychecks that make that path worthwhile.
For NFL practice squad players, the ‘checks aren’t what you think they are’[/paste:font]
Rees Odhiambo, a guard who moved four times during the 2018 season, shared what’s become an all-too-familiar routine. When a team calls, you get on a flight; if you’ve just been cut from the active roster, that call generally comes just after you clear waivers at 4 p.m. on Tuesday. There’s no time, really, to pack or deal with any of the logistics of moving. You arrive that night, the team picks you up from the airport and hands you a copy of the playbook to start studying. The next morning, you go through a series of physicals, sign your contract, and get on the field.
Rees Odhiambo plays for the Seattle Seahawks in a 2017 game against theTennessee Titans.
Getty Images
The team pays for a week in a hotel, during which players are expected to find their own housing. “You’re in a brand new location, and you’ve gotta learn the whole playbook that everyone else has had for the past few months,” says Odhiambo. “Outside of that, you have to cover finding a place to live, getting a car to drive, all the essentials. Even just getting a ride to the team facility — the team only covers you for the first day and after that you’re on your own. You start working at six in the morning and you’re back at six at night, and then you eat and study, and after that is the only time you have to find a place to live. That in-between time.” Plus, the place you find needs to accommodate the fact that you might have to leave at any time. A lease is a huge liability.
, Sean McVay, and Dan Quinn have all spoken this year about increasing the game day active roster, currently at 46 players — if it were larger, that might have a ripple effect and increase overall roster size.
“It might help with the numbers thing they keep telling me about,” says Powell. “That might save people like me.”
In the meantime, practice squad players will keep grinding — moving where the work is, and trying to get another one of those elusive opportunities.
“I always wonder how it feels to walk in the locker room and not have to worry, to be like ‘I know I’m gonna be here,’” Powell adds.
“But then again, I don’t know if anybody has that feeling in the NFL. It’s such a cutthroat business.”
https://www.sbnation.com/2019/1/15/18182010/nfl-practice-squad-reality-life-on-the-move-tyvis-powell
Moving at a moment’s notice. Finding temporary housing. Learning new playbooks. An NFL practice squad player leads a journeyman lifestyle — often without a paycheck that makes the path worthwhile.
By Natalie Weiner Jan 15, 2019, 10:09am ESTSHARE
The moment that Treyvon Hester, a defensive tackle who started the 2018 season on the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad, reached up and snagged the edge of the ball Bears kicker Cody Parkey had just sent towards the uprights, sealing his team’s playoff win, he became a very particular kind of hero. Instantly, Hester was the star of a familiar, irresistible NFL narrative: the underdog player who scrapped his way onto the team and wound up indispensable.
The NFL players who still haven’t had their primetime breakthrough rely on that narrative, too. “You hear all those undrafted success stories ... I mean I was in Seattle, so I had a bunch of examples right in front of me,” says Tyvis Powell, an undrafted safety who has played for five different teams in two years since spending his rookie season with the Seahawks. “I was like, ‘I’m going to be the next one to do that.’ Things just haven’t worked out that way, but the good thing is that I keep getting opportunities.”
The price of taking those opportunities, though, is much steeper than fans might imagine. Players at the bottom of the roster and on the practice squad have to be prepared to move across the country at a moment’s notice, for reasons that may have nothing to do with their own performance: a player in a different position group gets hurt, so suddenly adding depth there takes priority.
Those moves are only partially subsidized by teams, cutting into what are already comparatively modest practice squad salaries. Powell, who moved from the Niners to the Jets and back again during the 2018 season, estimates in his career he’s spent $15,000 just on relocating to play. “It’s unfortunate, but it is a job,” he says. “I’ve come to learn it’s better than nothing.”
There were 447 additions to NFL practice squads after Week 1, when teams sign their first 10-player practice squad. Though a number of those transactions account for players moving on and off of the practice squad of the same team, it suggests that the majority of NFL practice squad players had to move at least once mid-season — meaning the squad’s instability affected a wide swath of NFL players.
And even if their checks look substantial from the outside, if you account for taxes and the fact that they’re meant to sustain players over the course of the entire offseason, it’s clear the money is not enough to support the flexibility the position requires. It’s a journeyman lifestyle, but often without the active roster paychecks that make that path worthwhile.
For NFL practice squad players, the ‘checks aren’t what you think they are’[/paste:font]
Rees Odhiambo, a guard who moved four times during the 2018 season, shared what’s become an all-too-familiar routine. When a team calls, you get on a flight; if you’ve just been cut from the active roster, that call generally comes just after you clear waivers at 4 p.m. on Tuesday. There’s no time, really, to pack or deal with any of the logistics of moving. You arrive that night, the team picks you up from the airport and hands you a copy of the playbook to start studying. The next morning, you go through a series of physicals, sign your contract, and get on the field.
Rees Odhiambo plays for the Seattle Seahawks in a 2017 game against theTennessee Titans.
Getty Images
The team pays for a week in a hotel, during which players are expected to find their own housing. “You’re in a brand new location, and you’ve gotta learn the whole playbook that everyone else has had for the past few months,” says Odhiambo. “Outside of that, you have to cover finding a place to live, getting a car to drive, all the essentials. Even just getting a ride to the team facility — the team only covers you for the first day and after that you’re on your own. You start working at six in the morning and you’re back at six at night, and then you eat and study, and after that is the only time you have to find a place to live. That in-between time.” Plus, the place you find needs to accommodate the fact that you might have to leave at any time. A lease is a huge liability.
, Sean McVay, and Dan Quinn have all spoken this year about increasing the game day active roster, currently at 46 players — if it were larger, that might have a ripple effect and increase overall roster size.
“It might help with the numbers thing they keep telling me about,” says Powell. “That might save people like me.”
In the meantime, practice squad players will keep grinding — moving where the work is, and trying to get another one of those elusive opportunities.
“I always wonder how it feels to walk in the locker room and not have to worry, to be like ‘I know I’m gonna be here,’” Powell adds.
“But then again, I don’t know if anybody has that feeling in the NFL. It’s such a cutthroat business.”
https://www.sbnation.com/2019/1/15/18182010/nfl-practice-squad-reality-life-on-the-move-tyvis-powell
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