NFL rumors: Practice squad expansion could benefit the Redskins

The NFL may expand practice squads for the 2020 season and that would help the Redskins.

The NFL is already set to look a little different in 2020 than it has in season’s past. The league has started to gradually roll out roster expansion plans to afford teams the opportunities to keep more players around in future seasons. The logic behind this is that since injuries are so commonplace in the NFL, it’s certainly beneficial for more players to be around that know the system to keep a quality product on the field.

These changes make sense and it seems likely that rosters will eventually increase beyond their 53-man size in future seasons. They’re already set to have two extra practice squad players get called up each week to expand game-day roster sizes to 55 in 2020. But before any more official roster expansions happen, the league may choose to add extra spots to the practice squad instead.

As outlined by NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, the NFL is considering expanding the size of its practice squads for the 2020 season amid concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of having 12 players, the initial expanded number for the 2020 season, there are “internal talks” about having as many as 16 practice squad players.

This is good news for the Redskins. And the reasoning is simple. The team doesn’t figure to be very good this year unless several players step up and have breakout years. So, this campaign will be more about scouting future talent and uncovering contributors who could make an impact for the team down the line.

With four extra practice squad spots, the Redskins will have an opportunity to keep some raw but upside-packed players around who might not normally earn a spot with the squad and develop them. This would include guys like Emanuel Hall, Cameron Malveaux, and Caleb Wilson, to name a few. It also may give them the chance to keep some of their roster-bubble veterans on the active roster while stashing some other younger guys on the practice squad until they’re needed.

In short, extra spots on the practice squad means more flexibility. It also means that more players will be around in case injuries or illnesses arise and the Redskins need to tap into that talent. That will keep them from having to sign too many players straight off the street, a practice that they have become used to in recent injury-plagued years.

We’ll see if the league ultimately expands their practice squads for 2020. But any opportunity to keep extra young players around should be viewed as good news for the Redskins, especially given that they (rightly) had the smallest undrafted free agent class of the 2020 NFL offseason.