NFL Practice Squad and Waiver Rules: Size, Pay, Elevations and Claims

Oct 23, 2026 • 2 hours ago

Every NFL club can keep 16 players on its practice squad in 2026, plus a 17th spot for an International Player Pathway player, and any of them can be signed away by another team that puts him on its 53-man roster. Players with fewer than four accrued seasons go through waivers whenever they are released, and after the trade deadline every released player does, with claims awarded by a priority order that follows the draft early in the season and the current standings after that.

Updated for the 2026 season.

What is the NFL practice squad?

The practice squad is a group of players who practice with a team every week but are not on the 53-man active roster and do not play in games unless they are elevated. They sign practice squad contracts, are paid by the week, and stay free agents in one important sense: any other club can sign them to its active roster at any time, subject to the limits below. A player on one practice squad cannot sign to another club's practice squad while he is under contract.

How many players are on an NFL practice squad?

The limit is 16 players. A club may carry a 17th if that player is in the league's International Player Pathway program and is designated as its international player. The collective bargaining agreement originally set the limit at 14 from 2022 onward, but the NFL and NFL Players Association amended the rules in May 2022, and the league's own 2026 calendar and Football Operations pages state the 16-plus-one structure.

Clubs could start forming practice squads on Aug. 31, 2026, the day after the cut to 53. No club, including the player's former team, could sign a released player to a practice squad until the waiver claiming period on him had run out and every club had been notified.

Who is eligible for the practice squad?

Eligibility is tied to accrued seasons, the free-agency credit a player earns for a season in which he spends enough regular-season games on a club's roster.

Players with no accrued seasons are eligible.
Players who were on the active list for fewer than nine regular-season games in their only accrued season are eligible.
Up to 10 players may have no more than two accrued seasons.
Up to six players may have any number of accrued seasons. These are the veterans teams use to fill practice squads with experienced depth.

How much do practice squad players make in 2026?

Pay is weekly and set by Article 33 of the CBA. Players in the less-experienced eligibility groups earn a fixed minimum. Players outside those groups, mainly the veterans, earn an amount inside a range that the club and player negotiate. Practice squad players continue to be paid in postseason weeks while their team is still playing. Practice squad contracts cannot include guarantees, bonuses or incentives.

2026 practice squad pay	Weekly amount	17-week regular season
Players with two or fewer accrued seasons (fixed)	$13,750	$233,750
Other players, minimum	$18,350	$311,950
Other players, maximum	$22,850	$388,450

The scale rises every year through 2030. In 2027 the fixed amount becomes $14,500 per week and the veteran range becomes $19,200 to $23,700.

Gameday elevations: practice squad promotions for one game

When a team reports that a practice squad player has been "elevated" or "promoted" for a game, it is using the standard elevation addendum that is part of every practice squad contract. The player joins the game-day roster for that week only and goes back to the practice squad automatically at 4 p.m. ET on the first business day after the game, without passing through waivers. For that week he is paid at the prorated active-roster minimum for his experience, or postseason pay in the playoffs.

Per game: a club may elevate up to two practice squad players, which is how game-day rosters reach 54 or 55.
Per player: a player can be elevated for up to three games in a season. The original CBA text said two; the May 2022 amendment raised it to three, and the NFL's Football Operations page reflects three, though that page also still carries the older two-game wording in one place.
After the limit: to use him again, the club must sign him to the 53-man roster. If it later waives him and re-signs him to the practice squad, his elevation count resets.

Signing a player off another team's practice squad

Fans and reporters call it "practice squad stealing" or "poaching," and it is real: any club can sign another team's practice squad player, as long as it signs him to its own active roster. A player cannot be poached to another practice squad. For examples of the kind of players clubs target, see NFP's look at practice squad players worth stealing.

The CBA builds in protection for the player:

He is owed at least three weeks of pay at the active-roster minimum, even if the new club releases him sooner.
The new club must count him against its 53-man roster for three games, with bye weeks counting, even if it cuts, trades or waives him in that window. Pay he earns from another club in that span reduces what the signing club owes.
If he is signed with fewer than three regular-season games left, the three-game requirement does not carry into the next season.

Limits on poaching

A practice squad player cannot sign with his team's next opponent after 4 p.m. ET on the sixth day before the game, or the 10th day if his team is coming off a bye. After the conference championship games, practice squad players on the two Super Bowl teams cannot sign with the other Super Bowl club.

The CBA itself has no provision that lets a club shield practice squad players from being signed away. A weekly protection of up to four players was introduced in 2020 as part of temporary pandemic-era changes, with protections taking effect at 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday and lasting through the team's next game. Published explainers disagree on whether that protection still applies, and the NFL Football Operations practice squad rules page does not list it.

Postseason practice squads

Practice squads stay in place through the playoffs. Players keep drawing weekly practice squad pay while their club is alive, the two-per-game elevation rule still applies, and elevated players earn postseason pay. Once the regular season ends, playoff clubs may sign released players to their active roster, practice squad or reserve/future list, while eliminated clubs may sign them only to reserve/future contracts.

How NFL waivers work

Waivers decide which team, if any, gets a released player before he becomes a free agent. A waived player can be claimed by any other club during a 24-hour claiming period. If no club claims him, his contract is terminated and he becomes a free agent.

Who goes through waivers?

Players with fewer than four credited seasons are subject to waivers every time they are released.
Vested veterans, with four or more seasons, are not subject to waivers from the day after the Super Bowl through the trade deadline. A vested veteran released in that window becomes a free agent immediately.
After the trade deadline, all released players go through waivers. The 2026 trade deadline is 4 p.m. ET on Nov. 10, and players with at least four pension-credited seasons are subject to waivers from Nov. 11 through the rest of the regular season and postseason.

NFL waiver order

From the day after the Super Bowl through the third week of the regular season, claiming priority follows the order clubs picked in that year's draft. After the third week, priority switches to the current season's standings, worst record first. In 2026 that change took effect on Sept. 29. When more than one club claims a player, the club with the highest priority gets him.

NFL waiver claims today: the deadline

For regular-season releases, claims must be made within the 24-hour claiming period. The final cutdown has its own deadline: for players released at the cut to 53 on Aug. 30, 2026 (6 p.m. ET), the claiming period ended at 1 p.m. ET on Aug. 31, and clubs could build their practice squads only after it closed.

Players who clear waivers at cutdown are often the ones who return to practice squads a day later, while others land elsewhere in free agency, as covered in NFP's report on players who hit free agency after clearing waivers and on the Cowboys waiving Joe Milton.

What happens when a player is claimed?

The claiming team takes over the player's existing contract as written, including its salary and remaining years. The player has no say in where he goes.

Waived with an injury designation

A team can waive an injured player with an injury designation; if no club claims him, he reverts to his original team's injured reserve list, where the team can keep him or reach an injury settlement.