Nathan Rourke may dress

[Hambone]

Rourke has been signed back on to Jacksonville's practice squad.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/nfl/ja ... 4b8c&ei=67

This triggered a thought.

My sense is that the Jaguars will take care in elevating Rourke given that each time he comes back he's open on the waiver wire and they only have 3 QBs under contract.

As Rourke said, he needed film on him from the pre-season. I assume his first objective has to be on the Jags active roster with the subsidiary objective of getting some regular season tape on him.

As I think about the rule the Jags probably don't want a 3rd QB eating a roster spot so that means they also don't want to needlessly expose their 3rd QB to waivers unless they have no choice.

Gets down to roster management and having options.

NFL active rosters are 53 (or is it 55) players with 48 making the game roster. It's important for teams to leave themselves with flexibility and options for late decisions on who of the 53 (or 55) will be on the game roster. If the Jags wanted to not run the risk of clearing Rourke thru waivers to send him back to the PR they would be reducing their options for declaring their 48 man game roster by tying up a spot on a QB who is really there only for "break glass in case of emergency" use. They would also be running the risk of losing a positional player if they have to waive him, a positional player who is more likely to actually play.

[Toppy Vann]

Rourke has been signed back on to Jacksonville's practice squad.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/nfl/ja ... 4b8c&ei=67

This triggered a thought.

My sense is that the Jaguars will take care in elevating Rourke given that each time he comes back he's open on the waiver wire and they only have 3 QBs under contract.

As Rourke said, he needed film on him from the pre-season. I assume his first objective has to be on the Jags active roster with the subsidiary objective of getting some regular season tape on him.

As I think about the rule the Jags probably don't want a 3rd QB eating a roster spot so that means they also don't want to needlessly expose their 3rd QB to waivers unless they have no choice.

Gets down to roster management and having options.

NFL active rosters are 53 (or is it 55) players with 48 making the game roster. It's important for teams to leave themselves with flexibility and options for late decisions on who of the 53 (or 55) will be on the game roster. If the Jags wanted to not run the risk of clearing Rourke thru waivers to send him back to the PR they would be reducing their options for declaring their 48 man game roster by tying up a spot on a QB who is really there only for "break glass in case of emergency" use. They would also be running the risk of losing a positional player if they have to waive him, a positional player who is more likely to actually play.

That last sentence is one I hadn't thought of at all.
The only offsetting argument is if someone took Rourke off waivers, they'd be out looking for a 3rd QB.

[Dusty]

That last sentence is one I hadn't thought of at all.
The only offsetting argument is if someone took Rourke off waivers, they'd be out looking for a 3rd QB.

What are the rules about waiver claims? Does the player being claimed off the practice squad HAVE to accept the claim or can they decline the opportunity and stay on the practice squad.

As I understand it, the claiming team must put the claimed player onto their 53 man squad, so yes, that is an advantage to the player being claimed if it means they stay on the 53 for the remainder of the season.

just wondering.....

[Hambone]

That last sentence is one I hadn't thought of at all.
The only offsetting argument is if someone took Rourke off waivers, they'd be out looking for a 3rd QB.

True on the last part but as we see all the time there are always veteran QBs available on the free agent market just waiting for the phone to ring. Jacksonville would not see it as the end of the world if somebody raided them for Rourke. They'd make a couple of calls and have a new 3rd QB landing at the airport within 24 hours.

Jacksonville seems to be operating a couple names short on their 55. That could be due to salary cap constraints. Guys they have listed on the part of active roster but not game roster in 2023 have included:

NOTE: for summary purposes the last numbers in brackets reflects how many games out of 7 so far the player has been on the game roster.

WR Zay Jones - 7 year vet; started at WR Wks 1-2, inactive Wks 3-7 (2/7)
WR Elijah Cooks - rookie Jags UDFA signing this year; inactive Wks 1-5, active Wks 6-7 (2/7)
WR Parker Washington - Jags 6th rd pick 2023; inactive Wks 1-3, active Wks 4, IR Wks 5-7 (1/7)
WR/KR Jamal Agnew - 7 year vet; active Wks 1-3, inactive Wk 4, active Wk 5-6, starter Wk 7 (6/7)
RB JaMycal Hasty - 4 year vet who played 17 games for Jags in 2022; inactive Wks 1-3, active Wk 4-5, inactive Wks 6-7 (2/7)
OL Walker Little - Jags 2nd rd pick 2021; started at LT Wks 1-5, inactive Wks 6-7 (5/7)
OL Cole Van Lanen - 3rd year player - 2nd with Jags, GB 6th rd pick 2021; active Wks 1-4, inactive Wk 5, active Wk 6-7 (6/7)
DL Tyler Lacy - Jags 4th rd pick 2023; inactive Wk 1, active Wks 2-7 (6/7)
LB Devin Lloyd - Jags 1st rd pick 2022; started first 3 games, inactive Wks 4-5, starting Wks 6-7 (5/7)
LB Yasir Abdullah - Jags 5th rd pick 2023; active Wks 1-5, inactive Wks 6-7 (5/7)
S Antonio Johnson - Jags 5th rd pick 2023; inactive Wks 1-4, active Wks 5-7 (3/7)
CB Christian Braswell - Jags 6th rd pick 2023; inactive for Week 1, active Wks 2-7 (6/7)
QB Nathan Rourke - rookie Jags FA signing, PR weeks 1-6, inactive Wk 7 (0/7)

This makes for a good example of how NFL teams work their roster. Every player other than Rourke who has spent time being on the 55 but not active for that week's game has played and for some been starting this season. The 12 other than Rourke have averaged suiting up for 4 games out of 7. In the Rourke scenario if Jacksonville wanted to remove all risk of somebody plucking him away they'd have to risk losing one of these other guys who has seen playing time with them in 2023 and may be critical next man up depth.

[Hambone]

That last sentence is one I hadn't thought of at all.
The only offsetting argument is if someone took Rourke off waivers, they'd be out looking for a 3rd QB.

What are the rules about waiver claims? Does the player being claimed off the practice squad HAVE to accept the claim or can they decline the opportunity and stay on the practice squad.

As I understand it, the claiming team must put the claimed player onto their 53 man squad, so yes, that is an advantage to the player being claimed if it means they stay on the 53 for the remainder of the season.

just wondering.....

Not sure about whether the player must go or can decline. Something I thought I read said that if a player is claimed/raided or whatever from another club's PR they must be added to the new club's active roster for 3 weeks. Of course to do so means the claiming team must make room on their active roster for that player. Probably most likely scenario is that the claiming team has an injury to deal with. However if that's not the case then they have to cut somebody and risk losing them on waivers. Even if their intent is to take one of their own players from their 55 man roster and get him onto their PR they must first waive him. They can't simply demote him. A big reason there isn't a lot of raiding of other teams' PRs is that the claiming team has to make room and in doing so could risk losing a player who has already been quite useful to them already this season.