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Practice Squads


Apollo Stallion

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This always comes up and always changes so here's my best summary:

Practice Squad Eligibility:

  • 10 Players who practice weekly, but not eligible to play unless signed to 53 man roster
  • 6 players must have less than 1 NFL Accrued Season
    • An NFL season is Accrued after 6th game on roster (53 man) in same season
    • Players who were on the active game day roster (46 man) less than 9 games, get a second year of eligibility
  • 4 players can have up to 2 NFL Accrued seasons (veterans)
  • No more than 3 Seasons on practice squad (PS season accrued after 6 games on PS)
  • Must pass thru waivers (aka can't go straight from 90 man or 53 man to practice squad w/o being exposed)
  • Considered Free Agents, eligible to be signed to any 53 man roster -except-
  • Cannot be signed with 5 days of game with upcoming opponent (9 days during bye) - aka Jeff Fisher/Titan "poach the playbook" plan
  • Paid minimum of $7,600 per week - good ones often get more even up to a full NFL minimum salary
  • Do Not Count Toward Salary Cap
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NFL Rosters must be cut to 53 players Saturday, 9/1 at 3p.  Waiver Claims are due Sunday, 9/2 at Noon.  Then you are free to sign players to your Practice Squad amongst all eligible players, not just your own.  It's kind of a key distinction as it's a mini-free agency as players can sign where they want based upon familiarity, opportunity, or pay.  The Texans usually bring back 5 or 6 of their own players and bring in 4 or 5 new ones. There is usually a healthy mix of positions with some attention paid to light areas of the roster with o-line always being well represented since depth is thin on the active since they don't play special teams.  WRs and Secondary are almost always well represented both because they take a while to develop and you don't always want to run your starters full speed every practice. 

Not going to go thru eligibility for the rest of the teams, but here's who I figure are the 10 best candidates, although some of the will be on other rosters.

  • RB - T. Swanson - Coleman's gotten more reps, but Swanson cleary has the juice - I think we're sandbagging
  • WR - V. Smith - not a big fan but dude made enough plays to give him more time
  • G/T - C. Slade - actually, I've been impressed, but
  • DT - K. Opara - Kilgo has been more impressive, but don't think he's eligible (3rd year, 9 games played)
  • LB - K. Gilchrist - would prefer him to Keyes on roster, but Gilchrist has PS eligibility
  • LB - P. Kalambayi - if he makes roster it's just protecting the pick as Lewis and Bellamy outplayed him as well
  • CB - Dee Virgin - closer than you think
  • CB - Andre Chachere  - shown enough to keep developing
  • SS - T. Decoud - personally, I'd cut bait altogether
  • P - Trevor Daniel - rookie - kickers/punters on PS are rare, but not unprecedented - our situation makes sense altho IR resort is more our style.  Cutting Lechler is the right move, just not sure it's the move.

 

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I'll put this here, too...

I think Quessenberry has practice squad eligibility left, as rookie year (2013) he was IR'd in season with foot which I believe actually counts since you're still getting full salary.  Cancer was 2014-2017 and NFI List does not count.  Last year was practice squad and 2 games active.  So this year he could be one of our 4 "veterans" on PS.  Obviously doesn't fit the traditional use of PS as he's 28 and for him it might be time to see if he can latch on somewhere and actually play, cuz development time is over.  Selfishly, stashing him on PS is fine with me as he's not too far behind Fuller and Slade, but make no mistake - they are the better players, now and future.

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Cut players I hope we are interested in

 

QB EJ Manuel (OAK)

QB Joe Webb III (HOU) Seriously caught me off-guard when he was cut

 

WR Corey Coleman (BUF) --> WR Vyncint Smith (PS)  actually would be cool with keeping Smith on active roster because of ST ability ; IIRC Coleman was pretty good return guy in college

WR Brice Butler (AZ)

 

T Austin Pasztor (ATL) --> T Kendall Lamm (cut)

T Austin Howard (IND)

OL Cornelius Lucas (STL)

OT Gerhard de Beer (BUF)

G/T David Quessenberry  --> RB Tyler Ervin (cut) need OL depth; Quess would be heart & soul of OL

 

 DE Mario Edwards (OAK)

 

OLB / DE John Simon (IND) --> OLB Brennan Scarlett (cut)

OLB / DE Cameron Malveaux (MIA)

 

LB Korey Toomer (SF)

 

DB Josh Robinson (TB) --> CB Jermaine Kelly definitely need to replace Jermaine Kelly IMHO Chachere made more sense on active roster than Kelly; I would be okay with most of these to replace Kelly

CB David Amerson (KC)

CB Brian Allen (PIT)

CB Emmanuel Moseley (SF)

CB Jalen Myrick (JAX)

CB DeShawn Shead (DET)

 

Practice Squad

QB Charles Kanoff

RB Terry Swanson

WR Vyncint Smith

T Jaryd Jones-Smith

G/C Kyle Fuller

DL Kingsley Opara

NT Du'Vonta Lampkin

LB LaTroy Lewis

CB Andre Chachere

S Treston Decoud

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Former Texans on other practice squads:

  • S - Treston Decoud - Dallas
  • TE - Stephen Anderson - New England
  • RB - Lavon Coleman - Seattle
  • WR  - Dres Anderson - Dallas
  • RB - Dare Ogunbowale - Tampa
  • DE - Erik Lee - Detroit
  • G/T - Dorian Johnson - Carolina
  • C/G - James Ferentz - New England
  • LB - Reshard Cliett - Minn
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Quessenberry signed to Titans Practice Squad.  Will be interesting to see if they actually want him or if it's just the same old Titans strategy of signing Texans prior to gamedays to milk them for playbook knowledge.

Vyncint Smith, Buddy Howell, and one of Jamerson/Moore needs to be demoted to PS.  We gotta get some vets in here now that contracts aren't guarenteed for the year.

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Signed 3 new guys to PS

  • David Sharpe - OT - '17 4th round pick by Raiders - Florida - huge 6'6" 343 - was projected as high as 2nd round - story is that he's not athletic (stiff), but he was 3rd in 3 cone and 20 shuttle amongst lineman - started a game at LT late last year and did well - has an eye issue (rumors he's legally blind in an eye, but he says he's not) - actually kind of an exciting project if you ask me
  • Breon Borders - CB - '17 UDFA Bills - 12 ints / 34 PDs at Duke - at least Gaine is churning the PS, not the active secondary
  • Malachi Dupre - WR - Bills - '17 Packers 7th rounder out of LSU - 6'3" - 4.52 - couldn't make Bills no name WR depth chart - don't get the point of all these WRs

Cut

  • Darius Kilgo

Promoted to Texans Active Roster

  • Roderick Johnson

Signed to Titans active roster

  • MyCole Pruitt
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Boy I sure am glad I committed to this fascinating tracker, but I guess it beats writing about dumb racist superintendent comments.

This weeks blockbuster...

  • Cut WR Malachi Dupre
  • Signed WR Isaac Whitney - USC UDFA 2017 - spent some time on Raiders last year.  Freakish measurables at 4.34 on a 6' 2" 205 frame.  Track star and prized juco transfer who broke his collarbone so only 11 catches in college. Pretty sure at this point we are just signing PS WR's as Nuk and Fuller stand-ins since their practice reps are minimal
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On 9/12/2018 at 12:34 PM, Apollo Stallion said:

David Sharpe - OT - '17 4th round pick by Raiders - Florida - huge 6'6" 343 - was projected as high as 2nd round - story is that he's not athletic (stiff), but he was 3rd in 3 cone and 20 shuttle amongst lineman - started a game at LT late last year and did well - has an eye issue (rumors he's legally blind in an eye, but he says he's not) - actually kind of an exciting project if you ask me

Promoted to the 53 following Dylan Cole to IR. Given the current makeup of this OL, might play a bunch of snaps.

I'm fairly certain I'll be very wrong on this, but here is our new starting LT for the next 10 seasons. We'll look at Sharpe as the catalyst of an epic turnaround. (How he'll impact a defense that simply hasn't shown up yet is beyond me, but he will. Somehow).

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Season is saved.

  • Malachi Dupre - resigned to practice squad replacing David Sharpe's spot. 

Sadly, with Ellington on IR and Coutee and Coates seemingly made of paper, 3 WRs on the PS isn't looking so crazy (bla bla, they are supposedly playing this week, but been hearing that for a month).  Personally, I'm ready to see some Joe Webb plays, but since Miller up the middle is locked in as the mandatory 1st down call and 2nd is usually some forced throw deep with the TE's and slot wide open, maybe Webb can cycle in a scramble or the mad bomb to Vyncint every few drives, just to keep it interesting...  Hell at this point, maybe Webb should run the 2 minute drill as he killed it in PS.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This week's fascinating move:

  • Tyrell Adams - ILB - promoted from PS to Active - Adams puts the "journey" in journeyman - Texans are 8th team since he went undrafted in 2015 (well was at KC/Seattle twice). Went to powerhouse West Georgia.  Smallish/speed LB at 230 - 4.65 speed.  Likely just a special teamer with Peters out, but has speed to help out vs. TEs & RBs in coverage.  Still would have preferred one of the guys who excelled this offseason like Bellamy, Gilchrist, Lewis, Keyes. Bellamy is still on PS.

 

  • Roderick Johnson - OT - waived then resigned to PS - sadly, is actually worse than Kendall Lamm

In other bottom roster news, I saw the Lions cut CB Dee Virgin loose.  Dude had some ugly plays in the pre-season for sure, but primarily when he was in man to man (which exposes all of our CBs) and I think he can actually be a decent zone corner for us with more seasoning. Makes more sense than 3 WRs and a TE on our PS right now.

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Protect your earholes.  Mike Tython is on the active roster.

  • Mike Tyson - S - promoted to 53 - 6th round pick by seahawks in 2017, Univ of Cinn, 6' 1" 207, 4.56 speed.  Played linebacker in hs,  safety in college, corner for Seahawks (on practice squad all last year).  Pretty much just a depth guy / special teamer like Jamerson and AJ Moore who I still don't think I've seen yet (they've played special teams, just haven't noticed).  Moore has a tackle.
  • Kayvon Webster - IR
  • Robert Jackson - CB - signed to practice squad.  Jackson is a UDFA from UNLV.  Solid size speed at 6' 1" 202 lbs 4.44 speed.  Was in Colts camp.  Fits theme of Gaine's practice squad which is heavy on measurables and untapped potential, light on experience.  Dude played football for the first time in his life his senior year of high school,  Arkansas Baptist, transfer to UNLV where he started only 7 games. Lottery ticket.
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