Patriots Practice Squad: Signings, Analysis, Rules, and More

The New England Patriots trimmed their roster to 51 players yesterday, but they still have a lot of work to do before the dust fully settles.  They’ll likely make moves to use the two open spots on the 53 man roster, and will also likely fill out the majority of their practice squad today.

So far, here are the moves they have reportedly made:

Justin Green, CB: Green had a strong training camp and outperformed the other undrafted defensive backs.  He saw a significant amount of preseason reps (whereas players such as Stephon Morris never saw the field), and was competitive when the ball was thrown his way.  While he did have some struggles in game action, he retains some developmental upside and is a good emergency option for the Patriots. (Source: Ben Volin, Boston Globe)

Ja’Gared Davis, LB

Kannoris Davis, S

Marcus Forston, DT

Jeff Tarpinian, LB

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As you probably know, the practice squad consists of up to eight total players who aren’t eligible to play on game day.  The eligibility rules are complex, but heres’s a basic breakdown from SB Nation:

• A player is eligible if he does not have an accrued season of NFL experience. Players gain an accrued season by being on the active roster for at least six games.
• If a player has one accrued season, they can still be practice squad eligible if they were on the 45-man active gameday roster for less than nine regular season games.
• A player is deemed to have served a season on the practice squad if he remains on the practice squad for at least three weeks. Players are eligible to be on the practice squad for two seasons.
• Players can be eligible for a third practice squad season if their team maintains no less than 53 players on the active/inactive list at all times.