2021 Off-Season Update

[Goodell]

For total number of psquaders, we'll go with the NFL total on that and all of them would have to be the same for eligibility, etc.

Right about us having 55 man rosters instead of 53 because of the elevation of two. We'll treat that like last year where they are just on the active 55 man roster, but only 53 counting toward cap. That also provides some of that some practice squad player protected from other teams signing element as they'd be on active roster here and not on the market.

Thanks for the reply. When you say that we'll go with the NFL total for psquaders, that would mean 16. 53 on active + 16 ps in the NFL would total 69 players. Can you verify that we are going with 55 active + 14 ps for our purposes here, which equals the same 69 player total between the two squads in the NFL. Otherwise, I interpret what you said as 55 + 16, which would essentially give us all two additional roster spots with zero impact on ps number.

There's probably a case to do it either way, and 14 does make some sense. But looking at the programming scripts from last year, they used 16 as the maximum for practice squad so unless there's overwhelming support in using 14 instead I think we'd just stick with 16. It does give teams a couple extra spots overall as you mention, but on the other side a little less protection of practice squad than the more complicated NFL rules on that now, so perhaps that all evens out.

[bpboguta1483]

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/318 ... 1.....same rules as last year, their was some concern about whether the NFL was going to go back to the 12 man PS For 2021 earlier this year. Glad they are sticking with 16.

[Knighty Knight]

There's probably a case to do it either way, and 14 does make some sense. But looking at the programming scripts from last year, they used 16 as the maximum for practice squad so unless there's overwhelming support in using 14 instead I think we'd just stick with 16. It does give teams a couple extra spots overall as you mention, but on the other side a little less protection of practice squad than the more complicated NFL rules on that now, so perhaps that all evens out.

Let me clarify the options for discussion because I think there are only two ways to implement the active/ps roster limits in accordance with the NFL's rules.

1) 55 active roster and 16 practice squad (71 players total). I believe this is how we did it last year and it sounds like you verified this in the script. This is the only option that would not align with the NFL, or at least the intent of the NFL limits. Essentially teams get an extra two roster spots, which are more valuable than practice squad spots.

2) 53 active roster and 16 practice squad (69 players total). This is a strict interpretation of the NFL limits but does not allow us to easily move practice squad players up to active roster.

3) 55 active roster and 14 practice squad (69 players total). This is a loose interpretation for our purposes to essentially allow what would be 2 practice squad players that can be shuttled back and forth to remain on the active roster. This is really a workaround due to coding in our environment.

Let me reiterate, the active roster in the NFL is only 53 players. The only valid options are 2 and 3. Those are the only options that align with the NFL rules. For simplicity, I would support option 2. However, we should not continue to have a 55 man active roster and a 16 man practice squad.

[Goodell]

I think all are valid options, especially as we've played a full season already one of those less valid ways. However, we've adjusted the coding this year for 14 practice squaders and still having the 2 extra on the 53 man roster not counting against the cap to replicate the NFL situation there.

Teams should now be able to select cut to practice squad from their team rosters. Those players must clear waivers first, and if so would be added to the practice squad if a team has space left to do so.

Don't claim players you don't want on your active roster but only looking to add to your own psquad, as you have to keep them on your roster three weeks before being able to do that.

ACTIVE ROSTER DEADLINE: September 9th at 11:59PM ET.


You have to be down to 55 players by then. We won't sim any games until all teams are in roster and salary cap compliance equally.

[Goodell]

Something to keep in mind when making roster decisions. As always, veterans (4 years or more) have their full 2021 season salary become guaranteed if they are on your roster for our week 1. So if you're not sure about an older journeyman player making more money, may make sense to cut them in some cases so as not to lock yourself into their full salary if you cut them later in the season. If they remain unsigned, you can sign them back to the roster after week 1 and not have to guaranteed their salary the full season.

[Goodell]

As we get closer to our regular season, I've put rosters into regular season mode in terms of actually charging for those empty roster spots if your team is under 53 players. All teams must equally pay 53 players at minimum.

If you're well over 55 player maximum, keep an eye on the NFL cuts this week as it relates to who you want to keep on your roster ahead.

September 9th is our cut-down deadline.

[Knighty Knight]

Some really good detail from this article re: practice squad rules. We should revisit the 55 man roster here as a result, apparently you cannot call PS player up more than 2 weeks without offering signing a player to the active 53 man roster.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/322 ... -work-more

[Goodell]

Some really good detail from this article re: practice squad rules. We should revisit the 55 man roster here as a result, apparently you cannot call PS player up more than 2 weeks without offering signing a player to the active 53 man roster.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/322 ... -work-more

Love as much details on these kinds of things as we can get. Thanks!

For this year, though, we wouldn't change the rules now that we've started the season. But we'd definitely look at practice squads and rosters next off-season. Hopefully the NFL has less temporary COVID provisions and makes any changes more permanent and makes those decisions soon enough for us to adjust our programming in the off-season before a new year next season.