Why Dennis Dixon Was Eligible For The Baltimore Ravens Practice Squad

I received a few emails asking why former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Dennis Dixon was eligible to be signed to the practice squad of the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, so I thought I would drop a quick post on it so it would clarify it for all.

The CBA states in regard to practice squad 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. (A bye week counts as a game provided that the player is not terminated until after the regular season or postseason weekend in question.)

To illustrate this, I pulled the inactive list from the regular season games dating back to the time Dixon was on the Steelers roster. As you can see, during his accrued seasons Dixon was never on the active list for nine regular season games in one season.