Houston Texans Practice Squad: The Rules About Which Players Are Eligible

Sometime today, your Houston Texans will announce which players they've signed to their practice squad. Often times, after a player is cut, fans will immediately clamor for that player to be signed to the practice squad. But there are rules in the Collective Bargaining Agreement about which players are and are not eligible for the practice squad.

Our friends over at Cincy Jungle took the time to flesh out the relevant language from the CBA in this absurdly informative post, which tells you everything you'd ever want to know about the nuts and bolts of NFL practice squads. Here's the skinny from the CBA, courtesy of CJ, about which players are eligible for the Texans' practice squad:

Section 4. Eligibility:

• (a) The Practice Squad shall consist of the following players, provided that they have not served more than two previous seasons on a Practice Squad: (i) players who do not have an Accrued Season of NFL experience; and (ii) free agent players who were on the Active List for fewer than nine regular season games during their only Accrued Season(s). An otherwise eligible player may be a Practice Squad player for a third season only if the Club by which he is employed that season has at least 53 players on its Active/Inactive List during the entire period of his employment.
• (b) A player shall be deemed to have served on a Practice Squad in a season if he has passed the club’s physical and been a member of the club’s Practice Squad for at least three regular season or postseason games during his first two Practice Squad seasons, and for at least one regular season or postseason game during his third Practice Squad season. (For purposes of this Section, a bye week counts as a game provided that the player is not terminated until after the regular season or postseason weekend in question.)

Keep that in mind when you're speculating who'll the Texans will target for their eight (8) practice squad openings today.