The Seattle Seahawks began the regular season of 2020 with a winning streak of five games and, on Saturday, the team will take the field against the Los Angeles Rams to extend their current winning streak to five games. It was a unique NFL season for a number of reasons, and for Seattle the uniqueness included regularly taking advantage of the new practice squad uplift feature at CBA.
With the postseason approaching, the agreement reached between the NFL Management Council and the NFL Players Association’s postseason elevations is now relevant.
The NFL Board of Directors and the NFLPA have agreed to unlimited upgrades to practice squads without a player having to release waivers during the 2020 postseason, by source.
Previously, a player could only be moved to active squad twice in a game under standard elevation.
– Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) December 29, 2020
It is likely that the reason that the elevations were limited to two per player in the training squad during the regular season is that once a player has reached the limit of three games in the active squad, he wins a season on credit. This is relevant because credited seasons are used to determine a player’s minimum wage level, as well as their eligibility for post-game day benefits, including health insurance and pension.
In addition, as players receive a fixed amount during the postseason, depending on the team’s ranking and the round in which they are playing, postseason earnings do not count towards the team’s salary cap. So on Friday, the Seahawks once again took advantage of the elevation feature before the Wild Card game against the Rams.
That puts the team with 54 players for the third game between Seattle and Los Angeles this season, and gives the Hawks a little more depth in the running back. In addition, the rise of Alex Collins probably means that Rashaad Penny, who was demoted to Questionable by the team on Friday, will not be active for the game.