NFL practice squad salaries: Minimum salary, eligibility rules & more to know for 2026
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NFL practice squad salaries: Minimum salary, eligibility rules & more to know for 2026 originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Practice squads are far from perfect. And yet, they make up the backbone of the NFL landscape, providing rosters with shape, dimension and, most importantly, depth.
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B-team rosters have housed some of the NFL's most consequential players, from two-time MVP and Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner to former Defensive Player of the Year award winner James Harrison. They offer a steady hum of transactions during the season, with teams routinely looking to accompany their big-league sides with practice squad talent capable of breaking into the active roster.
Despite practice squads' relative ubiquity, their influence can appear to be blighted. They don't typically receive the buzz of their 53-man counterparts, even if they can loom large on a roster's viability.
With that, The Sporting News provides you with everything you need to know about practice squads in 2026.
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How many players are on an NFL practice squad?
Up to 17 players are eligible to be on an NFL side's practice squad, although that figure comes with some stipulations. Only 16 players on a team's practice squad are NFL-eligible; the remaining one player must be a member of the International Player Pathway program.
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Who is eligible for an NFL practice squad?
Not all NFL players are eligible to turn out for an NFL practice squad. Of the 16 NFL-eligible talents that take hold of the B-team, 10 must be rookies or second-year players. The other six players can have unlimited NFL experience, an alteration that came into effect in recent years.
The full list of practice squad qualifications include:
- Rookies, or players who have not accrued one season of NFL experience
- Any player who was not active for more nine regular-season games or more during their accrued seasons
- A maximum of four players who earned no more than two accrued NFL seasons
- Six players who have accrued more than two NFL seasons.
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NFL practice squad salaries
Practice squad salaries are divided into two groups, with players' weekly checks being determined based on service time. Players who have played fewer than two NFL seasons get a fixed weekly rate for their time on the practice squad. That figure will grow over the next five season as part of the NFL's collective bargaining agreement.
SeasonStandard2026$13,7502027$14,5002028$15,2502029$16,0002030$16,750Players with more than two years service time are allowed to negotiate their weekly salary with a franchise. There is a salary floor and salary ceiling for each player, with the figures of the minimum and maximum salaries slates to slowly increase through the 2030 season, as per the terms of the CBA.
SeasonMinimumMaximum2026$18,350$22,8502027$19,200$23,7002028$20,050$24,5502029$20,900$21,7502030$25,400$26,250MORE: The most expensive and cheapest NFL stadiums, including Bills' new home
Can practice squad players sign with other teams?
Practice squad players are permitted to sign with opposing teams as long as they are placed on the other team's 53-man roster. A team cannot sign a practice squad player from another organization to place in their practice squad unless they are released by their initial team.
Every Tuesday, teams can designate four practice squad players to protect. Those players are unable to be placed on another team's active roster from that day until kickoff.
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Can NFL practice squad players play in games?
Each week, teams can promote up to two practice squad players to their active roster. The player returns to the practice squad after their activation unless the team offers them a one-year deal.
The yo-yoing practice of calling a player up to the active roster and sending them back down to the practice squad can only last so long. No practice squad player can be activated more than twice; upon their second activation, a team must decide whether it wants to promote the player to the active roster full time.