OL Doug Legursky: “When I was on the practice squad I was always the one who knew what to do. I was never the biggest or strongest guy. In fact I was the smallest lineman I think for a while. But I was strong in the weight room and always tried to outwork and outsmart guys.
I remember one time in practice in my second season, after spending my first year on the practice squad. It was right before Spring ball. B.A. (Bruce Arians) asked me in front of the whole team where I was a week ago last year, and I told him I had been released – I wasn’t on the team. He said, “Now look at you. You’re probably going to get a hat on Sundays.” That was a big moment. It made a big difference. It showed everybody I made it – I was a nobody a year before that. I went from the practice squad to getting a hat on Sundays. Even guys on the 53 man roster, not all of them get to play!”
QB Rod Rutherford: “ I played quarterback, wide receiver and defense. It was a fun time and I think I showed them that I could play in the NFL and worked hard. In the back of my mind I thought they were thinking about using me a little like they did Slash. I can’t speak for them though on that. But Cowher was in my corner at the time.
My first reception in practice – it was a bang-bang play and Chris Hope hit me hard in my back as I caught it. Everyone looked at me – they didn’t really know who I was except as a quarterback. So when they saw me catch it and get up after that hit I think they saw how competitive I was and a lot of guys got excited. That is something I remember.”
WR Shawn Scales: “On the practice squad I would model the other teams’ offense. A lot of what we did was one-on-one matchups to show our defense what other offenses were doing. Guys wouldn’t go one-hundred percent unless they start getting beaten. I lined up against Carnell Lake almost every day. That was fun going up against a dominant player like that. It showed me I could play in the NFL. I never doubted that – I just needed an opportunity to adjust.”
OL Coach Adrian Klemm: “Seeing guys like John Leglue and J.C. Hassenauer play. It’s unfortunate that some guys got hurt but seeing them play was really nice. That is my favorite part really. Seeing practice squad guys getting an opportunity to play and having some success. Maybe they land on the 53 somewhere because of it later in their career. That’s definitely my favorite thing.”
LB Ronald Stanley: “A lot of people don’t realize what the practice squad does. It was a humbling experience for me at first – I was a star player at Michigan State and now here I was on the practice squad. Things didn’t go as I planned.
But, I worked as hard on the squad as if I were on the active roster. It’s an important role – you are preparing your team for the other team’s defense. If you don’t study film and give realistic looks on what the offense will see when they play the other team’s defense, they won’t be prepared on gamedays. So it’s a very important role – if you don’t prepare you are letting your team down.”
RB Lamonte Coleman: “They wanted to put me on the practice squad after that and I made the biggest mistake of my career. I told Tom Donahoe that I didn’t want to get put on the practice squad. That I’d rather test being a free agent. Tom asked me if I was sure. He told me they had plans for me but there were a thousand guys who could do what I could and who could take my spot on the squad. I still decided to test free agency. And I never saw the inside of another NFL locker room again.”
WR Chris Collins: “Ike, Deshea, Troy,…there was such a heavy dose of competition every time we practiced. It was all about making them better and them making you better. They were all tough – it was a strong competition every day.”
S/LB Marcus Allen: “The practice squad helped me a lot. It helped me to learn how to get my angles right and get leverage while checking receivers. It’s a one day at a time mindset when I was there. I was excited to learn the NFL game while I was on the squad.
Me and James Pierre – I appreciated him. He was my right hand and I was his left hand there. Carlos Davis too. As a rookie you don’t know how many times you’ll see a guy before they may or may not be on the practice squad anymore. You don’t know what happens in the big house – that’s what I like calling the offices where the coaches work!”
S Ryan Mundy: “The next season I was placed on the practice squad. After that first season I knew I had to prove myself. I think I just balled my ass off, to be honest.
My nickname was “Wonderlic”. I knew I had to be ready – I came in and learned not just all of the defensive responsibilities, but I made sure I understood what the offenses were trying to do as well. I learned a lot of that from Ryan Clark. I was an intelligent player and I was a physical football player too. So if Clark was out, I could play free safety, and if Troy was out, I could play strong safety too. I think that versatility helped me out as well.”
TE Kevin Rader: “The hardest thing was just keeping a positive mindset. You’re a practice squad guy and you have to accept that you’re there to get better. It can be hard to do. On certain plays I’d be responsible for blocking Cam Heyward in the C-gap, or TJ. In my mind those were opportunities to get better and to show that if I could prove myself to the coaches in those situations against Cam or TJ, that I could do it in a game.”
LB Tegray Scales: “I think with the practice squad, we’re giving it our all trying to give the offense good lucks and working on our craft. I did get one pick on Ben. I was in zone coverage and he looked the other way trying to move us off, but I stayed disciplined. I felt the route behind me and was able to make the pick. It wasn’t a big, spectacular play but I remember that,
On the practice squad, we take pride in giving good looks of opposing defenses for our offense. It can be tough as practice squad players – we’re competitors and want to be on the active roster. We want to be able to go out and make plays.”
RB Terrell Watson: “You always play a different role which is fun. You learn a lot – I learned how to be a much better pass protector while on the practice squad. All teams blitz – they may do it differently but they all do it. Working on that on the practice squad helped slow things down for me – to focus on and understand better what I was looking at. That helped me a lot.”
WR Cody White: “I was just amazed at Haden and those guys – how much talent there was. “Kelo” Witherspoon – he came in halfway through the season but you could tell right away he was gifted. And Sutton was good too – they were fun to match up against.
Win a lot of those battles? Just trying to get you in trouble here!
Ha I’m not going to say I did or didn’t win a lot!”
P Corliss Waitman: “Of course everybody wants to contribute. But it’s been great for me – I can watch and soak things in. You can’t get that normally – not sitting at home. You can’t get the experience and the chance to soak in the wisdom of the guys in the locker room. It’s a blessing in disguise – and a good feeling being a part of a team.”
WR Marcus Tucker: “I won’t lie – I love football. I just loved showing up with the attitude that I was going to do my best to get guys ready for Sunday. I cherished and embraced that role.
I matched up against Mike Hilton every day – we made each other better. And against guys like Burns and Sean Davis. Even the linebacker group with guys like Moats and Dupree. Even Deebo – he body-slammed me once and I was like “Bro, what are you doing?” I relished the roles they gave me. I was usually playing the shifty guy, like OBJ or Jarvis Landry. Those types of roles helped show me what they thought of me and challenged me to study film on them so I could learn how they played and what they did – so I could play that role to the best of my ability.”
LB Guy Ruff: “Showing the offense how the other team ran it’s defense – where they would blitz from, that kind of thing – it let them know how to prepare for the other team.”
RB Jack Deloplaine: “Me and Cliff Stoudt were on the practice squad and they clocked us pretty good after a loss. We had full scrimmages on Wednesdays and Thursdays even, and Perles would get on the defensive guys after a loss in practice, so they’d clobber us. I got clotheslined more than once. Lambert freaked out on me once in practice when I stopped once – I didn’t want to hit him during practice – this was right before the Super Bowl. I turned my back and started walking away and he started punching me in the back of the head. I asked him what the heck that was about and he yelled at me that we never stop!”
CB Al-Hajj Shabazz: “The Steelers Strength and Conditioning coach – Garrett Giemont – he really pushed me while I was on the practice squad. We’d have to come in at five or six am before the active roster guys did every morning. Well around week four – before the Jets game – he told me that my time may come soon. That I should keep working hard. Well I worked my ass off all week and I didn’t hear anything. Then that Thursday he sent me a text at 7 pm or so telling me he didn’t need me to come in early the next day.
And you knew what that meant?
I knew it yeah! Then Mike Tomlin told me the next morning. I owe a lot to Garrett for pushing me. He kind of ran the practice squad and pushed me hard. I don’t think any other team I played for held practice squad guys as accountable and worked them as hard as Pittsburgh did.”
DL Shaun Nua: “Practice squad to me is a great test of how much an individual loves the game. You are at the bottom stage of the development phase for the organization. At every single practice you literally take every single repetition on special teams, offensive scout team, and defensive scout team. This was your opportunity to show that you can play when your name is called due to injuries to those on the active roster.
With all of that, you don’t get to travel on game day, you don’t suit up on home games, and you even get a much less pay compared to those on active roster. To me, I still loved going to practice everyday when on the practice squad. I was on the best organization in football, I basically got a free education from the best coaches, and I was playing football with the best players in the business.”
Coaching Intern Tommy Reamon: “One funny story. C.J. Goodwin – he was a wide receiver in Steelers camp when I was there in 2014 and we were both learning the playbook together. He was a great athlete – a basketball player his first two years in college before he went to a division II school and played wide receiver there. He was a relative of Mel Blount.
We’d stay up late together trying to learn the playbook. I just remember him saying every night “They’re going to cut me! They’re going to cut me!” I told him to keep trying – you never know what will happen. He ended up making the practice squad.
Well, fast-forward years later. I lost contact with C.J. a while ago when I left to coach elsewhere. I’m watching the Super Bowl and I see C.J. break up a pass! There he was now. He ended up moving to defensive back and was playing in the Super Bowl! I laugh at that moment.”
WR Chris George: “I was never that guy that knew who every player was on every team – I wasn’t that kind of fan. I think that helped me in not worrying too much about who I was facing. But I remember once going out for a pass showing the other team’s stuff for our defense, running hard, and this monster linebacker is covering me, and he’s running close with me. I wasn’t a blazer but I wasn’t slow either. I was thinking, “Did I lose a step?” Then I found out it was Kevin Greene. I thought “Ok. That makes sense!” I felt better after seeing who it was!
Rod Woodson too – I went up against him a few times. I knew who he was of course. In Latrobe I caught a pass on him and then another afterwards. After the second he kept trying to rip the ball out after the whistle and it became a bit of a scuffle. He wouldn’t stop. Afterwards I was thinking “I just got into a fight with Rod Woodson!” Later on that night I was in the dorms walking down the hall and he is walking my way, coming right at me. I was getting anxious – was he going to jump me? But he just said hi and told me “Nice job today.”
LB Keith Kelsey: “The practice squad was a real learning experience. I never sat on the bench before I went to the NFL. Not in high school, and even in college I played as a freshman and started the rest of my time at Louisville. Being on the practice squad, your paid to practice all week and workout but you get weekends off.
But it helps develop you. Pittsburgh really uses the practice squad to develop guys. There was so much talent on the Steelers’ practice squad. Sometimes it’s just a numbers game – we had guys on the practice squad that could start on other teams.”
OL Kyle Friend: “I played against Pro Bowlers every day. Cam, Tuitt, Hargrave was there then…. Playing against those guys made me a better player. You had to be at your best. Heyward and Tuitt – you could see why they are so great. They are both so massive and fast. And they were relentless. That’s what made those guys so great.”
S Solomon Wilcots: “I remember Yancey Thigpen who became a great receiver. He was my roommate on the road after we signed him off of the San Diego practice squad. He complained about having to play on kickoffs and doing that dirty work. I told him you have to prove yourself by doing that dirty work first. No one sneaks into the lineup in Pittsburgh.”
WR Derek Moye: “Going from the street to the practice squad – you know you have to take advantage of every opportunity – make every catch. In the offseason afterwards I used those plays as a springboard – it gave me a lot of confidence in the OTAs and training camp.”
FB Carlos King: “My job was to help simulate other team’s offenses to the best of our ability – to run the plays as close to how the other teams ran them as possible to prepare the defense. That was my role.”
OL John Malecki: “Practice squad is a very different part of the league. Some teams I played on considered you a part of the roster, you travelled and did everything the active players did except play and receive quite a considerable pay bump. Some teams did exactly what the job title says, you practiced and went to meetings and went home. It was different when in college I was a starter and a captain and considered someone important. You get to take breaks at practice and you rarely play on special teams or a scout team. I personally had never been on a scout team before in college or high school. I always was starting or rotating. On P squad you do literally whatever they ask with no questions asked. And you’re expected to work on things you didn’t think you would ever do.
I learned to long snap, I blocked on punt and I ran down on kick off and practiced catching kick returns. I rushed on field goal block and played fullback on offense. I played every position across the board on the line including tight end. You go to every meeting and every walk through and you do it for 1/7 the pay of someone on a minimum contract. Some teams keep you after practices to run or take extra reps and some just send you home with dinner. It’s a unique role and I learned a lot about myself in it.”
S Grant Mason: “There are only eight guys on the practice squad, so we had to do everything. And because of my background as a wide receiver, I played versus the team’s offense as a defensive back and against the defense as a receiver. I never got a break – it was non-stop.
We’re playing a kids game so it’s always fun. But playing against guys in practice that I sat in the meeting room with was funny. Going up against McFadden or Deshea – running routes against those guys and then watching and laughing at it on film was fun. Meeting with them one hour then playing against them, giving them looks to make the team better was fun.”
LB Kion Wilson: “On the practice squad you mimic your opponent and prepare. If a guy goes down due to injury , or if I get a bump up, you need to be prepared.
The coaches drew up a lot of the work for you as a player. If a player they wanted you to mimic was aggressive, physical, shifty.. they’d move you around to be like those guys. If it was an offensive lineman that was physical they’d move you there and tell you to be physical too. You take on the roles the coaches give you.”
OL Ulish Booker: “The difference between a practice squad and active squad player is this -as a practice squad player you practice every day and try to give looks for the starters. For me, I took it personal. I gave my best effort – you never know if you will be called up due to injury. It’s a two-fold thing. You prep for injuries and stay ready to help the team while helping the guys across from you get better.”
S Jacob Hagen: “I got hurt though my third preseason game my second year in Pittsburgh, against the Saints. They put me on the practice squad and I went back and forth again. The coaches would come up to me and tell me to be ready to play, but then it doesn’t happen. It can be frustrating – you’re working hard to get your chance but it doesn’t happen. But I just had a kid and I had a wife – so that kept me sane.”
RB Noah Herron: “There was a certain frustration to being on the practice squad. I started the year on the active roster and in week 4 was moved down for injuries at another position. There was frustration but the window of opportunity in the NFL is so short that you have to make the best of every opportunity. I just tried to get better every week as a player, I had the opportunity to go against first defense everyday and I wanted to take full advantage of not wasting time and reps.”
LB Anthony Trucks: “The practice squad day to day has literally zero difference from the active squad players. We do exactly everything they do except go to the game on game day. I think people assume that we are off preparing as a little core of guys watching from the outside in. We are treated no different than the active guys, we are just waiting on our opportunity to get activated to play.”