Practice Squad, first refusal?

[willard]

Is it common practice for an agent of a ps player to alert the team that another team has offered a contract to their client giving the team the opportunity to add the player to the 53?

Can/do players not accept a contract to sign onto the 53 of a team and choose to remain on a ps? Can/do teams give incentives to players?

Asking because I think Bishop Sankey is an injury away from possibly being an important player on our team. RB is a tough job and with his familiarity with our playbook makes him the best candidate to add if we have a loss at the position. Blount is dinged. Bolden who I am cool on as a runner, is ok as a 3rd down back is hurt. If Lewis takes longer to regain his lethal cut back ability he does not add much as a runner. White has shown a little more this year, but does not seem to have the attributes to be a good runner. Foster I have seen nothing of and question at his size how much we could ask of him.

Not having a capable running back (yes I know the OL is key to the running game) really hurt us late last year.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

Is it common practice for an agent of a ps player to alert the team that another team has offered a contract to their client giving the team the opportunity to add the player to the 53?

Can/do players not accept a contract to sign onto the 53 of a team and choose to remain on a ps? Can/do teams give incentives to players?

Asking because I think Bishop Sankey is an injury away from possibly being an important player on our team. RB is a tough job and with his familiarity with our playbook makes him the best candidate to add if we have a loss at the position. Blount is dinged. Bolden who I am cool on as a runner, is ok as a 3rd down back is hurt. If Lewis takes longer to regain his lethal cut back ability he does not add much as a runner. White has shown a little more this year, but does not seem to have the attributes to be a good runner. Foster I have seen nothing of and question at his size how much we could ask of him.

Not having a capable running back (yes I know the OL is key to the running game) really hurt us late last year.

No requirement for a player/agent to alert about a potential 53 man contract offer, but it is often done as a goodwill relationship gesture between the team, player, and agent.

Yes, players can choose not to accept a contract if they so like.

Yes, some teams give incentives to PS players. The Patriots often times will boost the salary of a PS player they really like to the league minimum for 53 man roster players, so that the financial incentive to leave is gone (this is part of what the "cheap" Patriots spend their money on when they're not handing top-market contracts to upper middle class players).

One example I remember is Kyle Arrington. He was promoted from the PS specifically because he told the team that he had another offer from someplace else. Patriots chose to keep and promote him instead, and it worked out as Arrington, while no star player, certainly played well in certain roles for a decent amount of time. I know there are other examples where the Patriots wound up promoting a PS player because of a 53-man roster offer from another team, but I can't think of them off the top of my head.

 

[patchick]

I'm pretty sure it's common practice to go to the current team before signing a contract elsewhere. If I were an agent that's certainly what I'd do -- it's always better to have 2 suitors rather than 1.

That said, there could be situations where the opportunity seems more secure elsewhere, e.g. the other team just lost multiple players at that position to IR.

 

[willard]

Thanks. I thought that was the case as the players in essence are team associated free agents, but their contracts can not be claimed like those who pass off the 53 on the waiver wire. Feel better about the RB position knowing that.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Thanks. I thought that was the case as the players in essence are team associated free agents, but their contracts can not be claimed like those who pass off the 53 on the waiver wire. Feel better about the RB position knowing that.

Yeah, no one can "claim" a PS player without consent.

 

[long distance]

Thanks Willard for opening this up. And thanks Thor for explanation that answers some of my questions regarding keeping such a solid PS group.

I was thinking about Sankey's situation as well today after GB lost another RB last night that was promoted from PS only few days before. They already traded for a RB so I guess looking at other's PS RB's is the next step and Sankey certainly is among the most experienced.

After seeing Bolden didn't practice again I thought he would be out and maybe for both reasons - to have Blount's back up and to secure Sankey's availability to the Pats (especially since Lewis didn't start practicing) we could have a roster move tomorrow. Of course the question is who do you cut. A Johnson would probably be the first in line since he didn't saw much of the field despite Valentine missing and Hamilton injured during the game; Grissom on the other hand saw most snaps on STs. I addition to this thought Sankey did receive a substantial raise last week and was among practice players of the week for the first time.

On the other hand, a raise and nomination could be seen as a sign that Pats would like to keep Sankey on their PS for the moment and try not to loose him to other suitors at the same time. And the addition of Gaffney could be seen as an insurance in case Sankey accepts some other offer that seem pretty imminent the way RBs are going down across the league.
_

Lets add a note here that 4 PS players got a substantial raise recently (IIRC close to the minimum wage on 53): A Johnson, Grissom, Sankey and Barker (all also named practice players of the week last couple of times) so I guess they really might be contacted by other teams but chose to stay in reserve for the Pats. It seems unlikely luxury at this point to have such 4 experienced players on PS while others are already picking players from the street on their 53 but after the OL and RB (S-Jax) situation lat year its great to be so deeply insured and I hope it can remain like this as long as possible.

 

[Gumby]

As the others said, I believe it is not a given, but if agent wants to get the best deal or the player likes where he is at on PS they are certainly better off being up front than just bolting.

On the other hand, if you were on the Jester PS, I think bolting would be the only sane thing to do!

 

[Miguel]

The recent pay increases to the 4 PS players increased their pay from $6,900 a week to $10,000 a week. A rookie makes $26,471 a week.

Added later:
If Barker who got the raise was promoted to the 53-man roster he would make $30,882 a week. If Sankey who also got the raise was promoted to the 53-man roster he would make $35,294 a week.

 

[RayClay]

I agree, if they like Sankey, they should add him. Even when healthy, Bolden has shown nothing as a running back, though he's been a better receiver than I thought.

 

[Brandon_Cox]

If a team signs a player from another team's practice squad, don't they have to keep him on their roster for a certain time (maybe 3 games)?

 

[anditsgood]

If a team signs a player from another team's practice squad, don't they have to keep him on their roster for a certain time (maybe 3 games)?

yes