Cheesehead
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- Mar 19, 2019
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One silver lining is the NFL and NFLPA agreeing to expand the practice squad to 16 players this year, with four veteran exemptions. Once cuts are submitted to the league, teams can begin building their practice squads after 12 p.m. CT Sunday.
As part of the new collective bargaining agreement, NFL teams are allowed to protect up to four practice-squad players each week. There also is greater flexibility with the process, allowing teams to elevate up to two players to the game-day roster each week without having to go through the waiver process.
This year, teams can also designate as many players as they want to return from injured reserve, as long as those players are on the initial 53. Once on IR, players are eligible to return to practice after only three weeks. Once a player practices, teams have a 21-day window to activate him to the 53-man roster.
The Packers also have one player (linebacker Curtis Bolton) who is eligible to start the season on the physically unable to perform list and two others (guard Simon Stepaniak and running back Patrick Taylor) who are on the non-football injury list.
"The new CBA, obviously there are some different roster rules, and then particularly this year with COVID, there's been some changes, as well," Gutekunst said. "Whether that be to the IR, being able to return as many guys as you want to during the season, and the amount of time they have to stay down. It's certainly been a very big part of how we've looked at things, and how we will look at things going forward."