We have no idea as to when NFL teams will begin regular-season play, but we know how many roster spots they'll have to play with when they do.
That wasn't always the case this offseason. But since the passage of the new collective bargaining agreement, jobs have been created for players. There will still be 53 active-roster spots per team when the regular season begins, though teams will have the ability to bump that number to 55 if they choose to temporarily promote two practice-squad players.
The catch? Teams can only pull off that temporary promotion a couple of times with the same player in a given season. On game days, teams can activate 48 players (up from the previous max of 46) if they have eight offensive linemen in uniform.
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Clubs are also provided 12 practice-squad spots (up from the previous max of 10), which gives them more bodies to choose from in the event they do want to pull off a temporary promotion. It may not seem like much, but that could be the difference between a team being able to hold onto a James Develin or Danny Amendola type — both former p-squadders — and not.
Here we're projecting the initial 53-man roster for the Patriots after they're forced to cut down from 90. But we've also made sure to include an initial 12-man p-squad roster, highlighting a couple of names who could be promoted quickly.