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In sports, the scout team, also referred to as a practice team, taxi squad, practice squad or practice roster, is a group of players on a team whose task is to emulate future opponents for the featured (or starting) players. Frequently used in American or Canadian Football, these teams consist of less athletically developed or less skilled players. However, unlike a traditional scrimmage, scout teams often have to learn a variety of different football playbooks in order to simulate the tendencies of future opponents.

History

Cleveland Browns coach Paul Brown invented the "taxi squad," a group of promising scouted players who did not make the roster but were kept on reserve. The team owner Mickey McBride put them on the payroll of his taxi company, although they did not drive cabs.

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Practice squad players practice alongside regular roster players during the week, but they are not allowed to play in actual games. They can be paid considerably less than active squad players: The minimum salary from 2008 to 2010 was $5,200 per week (2008-2010) for 17 weeks, or $88,400 per season, in comparison to the NFL minimum rookie salary of $420,000. In 2012 the minimum salary for a practice squad player was $5,700 per week, and the minimum rookie salary in 2012 was $390,000. Some practice squad players are paid considerably more, however. In 2006, the New England Patriots paid third-year player Billy Yates the full $425,000 he would have earned on the active roster.

Practice squad players are free agents; they can be signed to any team's 53-man roster at any time during the season. In other words, NFL teams are free to "poach" other teams' practice squads without compensating the teams. Additionally, the NFL has a program through which foreign players may be assigned to teams' practice squads, called the International Practice Squad Program.

Many NFL players have spent time on practice squads before finding success in the league, including James Harrison, Jason Peters, Danny Amendola, Danny Woodhead and Arian Foster.

References

1. Cantor 2008, p. 95. sfn error: no target: CITEREFCantor2008 (help)
2. ^ "The NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement" (PDF). NFL Players Association. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
3. Reiss, Mike (2007-09-19). "NFL hunting for answer on how Fox got Patriots video". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
4. Bill Williamson, International practice-squad players assigned, ESPN, June 12, 2008.
5. "Houston Texans - Arian Foster Profile". Houston Texans. houstontexans.com. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
6. "Patriots.com". Patriots.com. New England Patriots. Retrieved 21 August 2014.

• College sports in the United States
• American football terminology