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Never on Sunday is players' lament
Practice squad: Being an NFL player for everything but the games can be a trying experience for those in waiting.
By Paul McMullen
Sun Staff
December 1, 2002
The observation that one man's ceiling is another man's floor describes life on an NFL practice squad.
The fortunate five designated as practice squad players are among the minuscule percentage of American men paid to play football. The compensation is sweet, more than $4,000 per week. They hang by lockers that are the same dimensions as the ones used by Ray Lewis and Jonathan Ogden, and their care and feeding is overseen by coaches, nutritionists and medical personnel.
The flip side of the job isn't so appealing.
It's temporary pay, lasting only as long as a 17-week season. Time accrued isn't counted by the players union. Weekends are worst of all. After joining the process of game planning on the field and in the classroom, on Saturdays, while the 53-man roster gears up for battle, practice squad players turn the ignitions in their SUVs and drive back to quiet apartments.
"They leave," Marques Douglas said, "and it almost brings you to tears."
A fourth-year defensive end out of Howard University who had played in three games in his first three seasons and is currently on injured reserve, Douglas is a standard product of the practice squad. It's typically populated by guys who didn't play at the major college level or are still physically maturing. Whether works in progress or insurance policies, they possess potential that intrigues personnel directors.
Practice squads were added 10 years ago, as part of the collective bargaining agreement that included free agency. Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Keenan McCardell is one of its biggest success stories; he was released four times by the Cleveland Browns before finally becoming a regular in his fifth pro season.
Among the Ravens, undersized defensive tackle Kelly Gregg spent his first two seasons out of Oklahoma on the Cincinnati Bengals', Philadelphia Eagles' and Ravens' practice squads. Center Mike Flynn had practice squad stops with Tampa Bay and the Jacksonville Jaguars before he was signed by the Ravens in December 1997. When teams pluck another's practice squad, the addition must be active for three games, and Flynn turned those few weeks into five seasons here.
'An ongoing audition'
Nate Bolling is a 6-foot-4, 287-pound defensive lineman who received second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors last season. He redshirted at Wake Forest in 1997, and Bolling explains to his buddies back home in Toledo, Ohio, that being on a practice squad is just like biding your time as a college freshman.
"That's what I tell people who don't understand what I'm doing," Bolling said. "I approach it as an ongoing audition, but it's a mix of that and helping the scout team. I try to make sure I know the scouting report front to back, even though I know I'm not going to play on Sunday. Being on the practice squad, you have to be more prepared than everyone else."
Wide receiver Randy Hymes was activated two weeks ago, when fellow rookie free agent J.R. Jenkins wasn't providing the desired distance on kickoffs and the Ravens had the two trade places.
When injuries ended the season for Ray Lewis and Brandon Stokley, the Ravens opened room on the roster for safety Raymond Perryman. Last week he became the 10th man to reside on Baltimore's practice squad this year, but today in Cincinnati he'll suit up for his first NFL game.
Bolling might have some friends over today to watch a game that he will study closely. Brandon Christensen, a 25-year-old who's trying to leave an impression in a deep pool of young tight end talent, takes a different tack on game day, saying, "Mechanics don't work on cars on their days off."
"To be honest, I don't watch with full attention, because I get to watch it on Monday," said Christensen, who led Northwest Oklahoma to a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics title in 1999. "I spent the last World League season in Barcelona, so I've been playing or practicing pretty consistently since March.
"In my case, it [the practice squad] might be a blessing in disguise, because you get to relax on the weekend. When we played in Miami, I was in my apartment for 30 straight hours."
So near, yet so far
When another diner notices Christensen, 6-5, 260 pounds, in a restaurant, he'll answer yes, he's a football player, "but when they go on the Internet, I'm nowhere to be found."
Practice squad players have no talk shows or endorsements, not even a sideline spot at home games. Bolling described it as being "a step up from an equipment guy."
Douglas said players trying to break into the NFL are expected "to be training camp dummies." Perryman was explaining how his patience had been tested when he was waived by the Oakland Raiders and worked out by the Buffalo Bills and Washington Redskins, then said, "Excuse me, I've got to go to a meeting."
"I tell my parents, imagine if your boss had a camera in your office," Christensen said. "Do everything right. Be on time, do not mess up."
When Perryman arrived in Baltimore two weeks ago, he replaced Jim Jones on the practice squad. Perryman was given a hotel voucher, and Jones moved out of an extra bedroom in Bolling's apartment. Jones was returned to the practice squad last week, however, and moved back in with Bolling the day before Thanksgiving
"For us guys," Bolling said, "NFL definitely means not for long."
Copyright ? 2002, The Baltimore Sun
Never on Sunday is players' lament
Practice squad: Being an NFL player for everything but the games can be a trying experience for those in waiting.
By Paul McMullen
Sun Staff
December 1, 2002
The observation that one man's ceiling is another man's floor describes life on an NFL practice squad.
The fortunate five designated as practice squad players are among the minuscule percentage of American men paid to play football. The compensation is sweet, more than $4,000 per week. They hang by lockers that are the same dimensions as the ones used by Ray Lewis and Jonathan Ogden, and their care and feeding is overseen by coaches, nutritionists and medical personnel.
The flip side of the job isn't so appealing.
It's temporary pay, lasting only as long as a 17-week season. Time accrued isn't counted by the players union. Weekends are worst of all. After joining the process of game planning on the field and in the classroom, on Saturdays, while the 53-man roster gears up for battle, practice squad players turn the ignitions in their SUVs and drive back to quiet apartments.
"They leave," Marques Douglas said, "and it almost brings you to tears."
A fourth-year defensive end out of Howard University who had played in three games in his first three seasons and is currently on injured reserve, Douglas is a standard product of the practice squad. It's typically populated by guys who didn't play at the major college level or are still physically maturing. Whether works in progress or insurance policies, they possess potential that intrigues personnel directors.
Practice squads were added 10 years ago, as part of the collective bargaining agreement that included free agency. Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Keenan McCardell is one of its biggest success stories; he was released four times by the Cleveland Browns before finally becoming a regular in his fifth pro season.
Among the Ravens, undersized defensive tackle Kelly Gregg spent his first two seasons out of Oklahoma on the Cincinnati Bengals', Philadelphia Eagles' and Ravens' practice squads. Center Mike Flynn had practice squad stops with Tampa Bay and the Jacksonville Jaguars before he was signed by the Ravens in December 1997. When teams pluck another's practice squad, the addition must be active for three games, and Flynn turned those few weeks into five seasons here.
'An ongoing audition'
Nate Bolling is a 6-foot-4, 287-pound defensive lineman who received second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors last season. He redshirted at Wake Forest in 1997, and Bolling explains to his buddies back home in Toledo, Ohio, that being on a practice squad is just like biding your time as a college freshman.
"That's what I tell people who don't understand what I'm doing," Bolling said. "I approach it as an ongoing audition, but it's a mix of that and helping the scout team. I try to make sure I know the scouting report front to back, even though I know I'm not going to play on Sunday. Being on the practice squad, you have to be more prepared than everyone else."
Wide receiver Randy Hymes was activated two weeks ago, when fellow rookie free agent J.R. Jenkins wasn't providing the desired distance on kickoffs and the Ravens had the two trade places.
When injuries ended the season for Ray Lewis and Brandon Stokley, the Ravens opened room on the roster for safety Raymond Perryman. Last week he became the 10th man to reside on Baltimore's practice squad this year, but today in Cincinnati he'll suit up for his first NFL game.
Bolling might have some friends over today to watch a game that he will study closely. Brandon Christensen, a 25-year-old who's trying to leave an impression in a deep pool of young tight end talent, takes a different tack on game day, saying, "Mechanics don't work on cars on their days off."
"To be honest, I don't watch with full attention, because I get to watch it on Monday," said Christensen, who led Northwest Oklahoma to a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics title in 1999. "I spent the last World League season in Barcelona, so I've been playing or practicing pretty consistently since March.
"In my case, it [the practice squad] might be a blessing in disguise, because you get to relax on the weekend. When we played in Miami, I was in my apartment for 30 straight hours."
So near, yet so far
When another diner notices Christensen, 6-5, 260 pounds, in a restaurant, he'll answer yes, he's a football player, "but when they go on the Internet, I'm nowhere to be found."
Practice squad players have no talk shows or endorsements, not even a sideline spot at home games. Bolling described it as being "a step up from an equipment guy."
Douglas said players trying to break into the NFL are expected "to be training camp dummies." Perryman was explaining how his patience had been tested when he was waived by the Oakland Raiders and worked out by the Buffalo Bills and Washington Redskins, then said, "Excuse me, I've got to go to a meeting."
"I tell my parents, imagine if your boss had a camera in your office," Christensen said. "Do everything right. Be on time, do not mess up."
When Perryman arrived in Baltimore two weeks ago, he replaced Jim Jones on the practice squad. Perryman was given a hotel voucher, and Jones moved out of an extra bedroom in Bolling's apartment. Jones was returned to the practice squad last week, however, and moved back in with Bolling the day before Thanksgiving
"For us guys," Bolling said, "NFL definitely means not for long."
Copyright ? 2002, The Baltimore Sun
