Tracking additions to the Titans practice squad

[UPDATE 12:20]- QB Logan Woodside and OLB Derick Roberson to the practice squad per Tom Pelissero and John Glennon.

[UPDATE 12:30]- WR Cody Hollister to the practice squad per Mark Daniels.

[UPDATE 12:40]- CB Kareem Orr and OL Aaron Stinnie to the practice squad per Erik Bacharach.

[UPDATE 12:45]- DE Amani Bledsoe to the practice squad per John Glennon.

[UPDATE 1:20]- WR Papi White, TE Parker Hesse, and LB Ukeme Eligwe added to the practice squad per Jim Wyatt. There is still one open spot remaining.

[UPDATE 2:40]- Titans have completed their practice squad, adding former Packers OL Adam Pankey per Dov Kleiman.

After cutting down to 53 players yesterday — and trading away Taywan Taylor — the Titans were able to start assembling their practice squad today after waivers cleared. The rules surrounding the practice squad are a little complicated so let’s run through them real quick.

Each team is allowed to keep ten players on the practice squad during the regular season. These ten players are allowed to practice and meet with the team, but they are not eligible to play in games. If a team wants to use a practice squad player in a game, they need to promote them to the 53-man roster first. While on the practice squad, players earn a minimum of $8,000 per week. Teams are free to pay their practice squad players as much as they want, but the totals do count against the team’s salary cap space. The Titans once agreed to a substantial pay raise to keep Alex Tanney from leaving the practice squad to sign with the Browns on their 53-man roster.

Teams are allowed to sign any player off any practice squad to a contract as long as that player is being put on the 53-man roster. Teams are NOT permitted to sign a player from another practice squad to their own practice squad.

Not every NFL player is eligible to be signed to a practice squad. This section of the roster is intended to help create opportunities for young, developmental prospects to continue to work with a team. To make sense of who is eligible to be placed on a practice squad, first we need to understand a few key terms:

• Accrued Season — an accrued season occurs when a player spends six or more games on an NFL team’s 53-man roster.
• Active List — the active list is the list of 46 players that will be dressed out and participating on any given game day.
• Practice Squad Season — unlike the “accrued season”, a practice squad season is registered if a player spends at least six weeks on the practice squad.

For a player to be eligible for the practice squad, they must meet the requirements laid out below.

• A maximum of four of the ten practice squad spots may be filled by “experienced” players. This is defined as a player who has at least one, but no more than two accrued seasons during his time in the NFL.
• The remaining spots must go to players with no accrued seasons OR players who spent less than nine games as part of the Active List in each of his accrued seasons.
• Players can spend no more than two seasons on the practice squad — the player must be on a practice squad for at least six weeks for it to count as a year — however they can be granted a third year if the team that employs them during that third year has 53 players on their roster at all times during that third season (which pretty much all teams do anyway).

Out of the players that were released yesterday, most are practice squad eligible based on the criteria laid out above. The exceptions include OL Corey Levin, OL Hroniss Grasu, OL Austin Pasztor, RB Akeem Hunt, and TE Ryan Hewitt. Below are the players that were released yesterday that ARE practice squad eligible:

QB Logan Woodside

RB Alex Barnes

RB Jeremy McNichols

WR Anthony Ratliff-Williams

WR Cody Hollister

WR Tanner McEvoy*

WR Papi White

WR DeAngelo Yancey

TE Parker Hesse

TE Cole Wick*

OL A.T. Hall

OL Aaron Stinnie

DL Chris Nelson

DL Braxton Hoyett

DL Amani Bledsoe

DL Frank Herron

OLB Derick Roberson

OLB LaTroy Lewis

OLB Eric Cotton

ILB Ukeme Eligwe*

ILB Quart’e Sapp

CB Kareem Orr

CB D’Andre Payne

CB Mike Jordan*

CB Kenneth Durden*

S JoJo Tillery

S LaDarius Wiley

P Austin Barnard

*Eligible for one of the four “experienced player” spots only.

Out of this group I’d expect Woodside, McNichols, Ratliff-Williams, Bledsoe, Herron, Roberson, and Orr to be among the top priorities for the practice squad. All those guys flashed at times during camp and preseason for the Titans. The team is likely to add at least a couple players to the practice squad that spent camp with other NFL teams, but the bulk of these spots should be filled by the players listed above.

There will be plenty more moving parts on the roster today as waiver claims process at 11:00 AM Central this morning. Some of the players who made the 53-man roster yesterday might find themselves bumped off for a player who was released by another team. Those players who go unclaimed will then be available for teams to add to practice squads. We will keep track of those practice squad additions for the Titans here so make sure to check back throughout the day for updates.