Let’s Talk about the Roster and CBA Impacts
April 30, 2020
By Noonefromtampa
The 2020 season will be played under the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The new CBA brings about some changes to the roster and the game day active list.
Roster Size
The 53-man active roster size does not change in the 2020, but the practice squad roster increases from 10 to 12 players for 2020 and 2021 seasons. In 2022, the practice squad goes to 14 players. The eligibility rules for the practice squad have also been modified to include the following:
- Players who do not have an Accrued Season of NFL experience;
- Free agent players who were on the Active List for fewer than nine regular season games during their only Accrued Season(s);
- A maximum of four free agent players per Club who have earned no more than two Accrued Seasons, with those four players to have no limitation as to the number of games on the game day Active List in either of those seasons;
- A maximum of two free agent players per Club with no limitations as to their number of earned Accrued Seasons (increases from two players to four players for the 2022-30 League Years
Game Day Roster
The first change to the game day roster rules is that two players from the practice squad can be brought to the active roster on game day and then revert back to the practice squad on the day after the game. This change will get rid of a lot of the meaningless roster churn that would occur around releasing bottom of roster players to sign a player to replace a more valuable injured player. The active game day roster will increase to 48 players if active list contains 8 offensive linemen. Otherwise, the active game day roster will be 47 players. So, the active game day roster will increase 1 to 2 players from the 2019 season.
Potential Roster Makeup
How will the CBA changes impact the roster makeup? It will be interesting to see how various teams compose their rosters in the upcoming season. What will the Redskins roster look like in the upcoming season? Here is a potential roster breakdown with my way too early 53-man roster projection:
| Position | Count | Players |
| Special Teams | 3 | Dustin Hopkins, Tress Way, Nick Sundberg |
| Quarterback | 3 | Dwayne Haskins, Kyle Allen, Alex Smith |
| Running Back | 5 | Adrian Peterson, Derrius Guice, Antonio Gibson, Bryce Love, J.D. McKissic |
| Wide Receiver | 5 | Terry McLaurin, Cody Latimer, Steven Sims Jr., Kelvin Harmon, Antonio Gandy-Golden |
| Tight End | 3 | Logan Thomas, Richard Rodgers, Hale Hentges |
| Center | 2 | Chase Roullier, Keith Ismael |
| Guard | 3 | Brandon Scherff, Wes Martin, Wes Schweitzer, |
| Tackle | 4 | Saahdiq Charles, Morgan Moses, Cornelius Lucas, Geron Christian |
| Defensive Tackle | 4 | Daron Payne, Jonathan Allen, Matt Ioannidis, Tim Settle |
| Defensive End | 4 | Chase Young, Montez Sweat, Ryan Kerrigan, Jordan Brailford |
| Linebacker | 7 | Thomas Davis Sr., Jon Bostic, Cole Holcomb, Reuben Foster, Ryan Anderson, Shaun Dion Hamilton, Kevin Pierre-Louis |
| Cornerback | 5 | Kendall Fuller, Ronald Darby, Fabian Moreau, Greg Stroman, Jimmy Moreland |
| Safety | 5 | Landon Collins, Sean Davis, Troy Apke, Deshazor Everett, Kamren Curl |
Undrafted free agent signings were not factored into the roster projection. In the real world, practices and training camp will decide who will actually makes the final roster.
What is clear from free agency and the draft is that the front office and the coaching staff are on the same page with the team acquiring players who fit the schemes that the offense and defense will run this year.