life far away from the bench

[Lughead]

New York Giants' practice squadders face a different world

by Jenny Vrentas/The Star-Ledger

Friday December 26, 2008, 10:43 AM

Mitsu Yasukawa/The Star-LedgerGiants practice players Rashad Barksdale and Taye Biddle at work last week.

 

Cliff Louis was in the lobby of an East Rutherford hotel on a recent Sunday night, settling into his spot at the end of a semi-circular couch in front of the hotel's big-screen television. Moments later, an elementary school-aged boy approached him.

 

Noticing Louis' cobalt blue warm-ups, with a red No. 68 near the right pocket, and his 6-8, 315-pound frame, the boy presented a blank white piece of paper and a black marker.

 

"Do you play for the New York Giants?" he asked. "Can I have your autograph?"

 

Louis obliged, even though, ironically, Sunday is the day of the week when the offensive lineman feels least like an NFL player. While the Giants active roster was 1,500 miles and one time zone west at Texas Stadium, Louis, receiver Taye Biddle and defensive back Travonti Johnson ate pizza and boneless chicken wings and watched the Dallas game on NBC's Sunday Night Football.

 

For these three players, among the eight on the Giants' practice squad, the professional football dream, for now, is confined to the Giants Stadium practice bubble. During the week, they have the same responsibilities as the rest of the locker room -- lift, study film, practice -- but on game day, they are bystanders to the action, wondering how to cross to the other side.

 

"We analyze what other players are doing," Louis, 24, said at kickoff of the Cowboys game, "to see what makes them different than us, what makes them there and us here."

 

The line, as they've learned, is a fine one. This season, five players have been signed off the Giants practice squad to active rosters, either the Giants' or elsewhere in the league. If they need proof of how far their careers can go, the best example in the locker room is running back Derrick Ward, a former Jets practice squadder who will try for a 1,000-yard rushing season this Sunday.

 

But there are a few degrees of separation between the sides:

 

-- Practice-squad players have to report to the stadium about an hour to an hour-and-a-half earlier than the rest of the roster to lift weights, dragging themselves in as early as 6:30 a.m. some days of the week, even before Biddle's mom begins her shift at an Alabama hospital;

 

-- They don't reap one of the prime benefits of the Giants' success, still having to report for work the Monday after victories while the rest of the team often is given the day off;

 

-- For many, their "home" is a $1,700-a-month hotel room, a far cry from the plush houses many of the Giants can afford. They live with plenty of take-out menus and a bare minimum of their belongings, in case they have to move with a few hours notice -- because of the Giants' 47 transactions since roster trim-downs at the end of the preseason, 35 have involved practice-squad players;

 

-- And, most notably, their earnings through a season amount to about one-third of that for a player on the 53-man roster: $5,200 per week compared to the league's minimum salary of $295,000 for active players.

 

On the practice field, their primary role is to mimic key players from that week's opponent on the scout team. Earlier this month, Johnson drew Eagles safety Brian Dawkins. Louis plays linemen on both side of the ball, like Cowboys right tackle Marc Colombo and nose tackle Tank Johnson. Biddle is always the opponent's No. 1 receiver.

 

Last week, that was Panthers playmaker Steve Smith, an assignment Biddle had a leg up on after spending a year-and-a-half with Carolina, which signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Ole Miss in 2006. In the locker room the week before the Panthers game, as Biddle was talking about the way Smith likes to run his routes and find space in opposing defenses, starting safety James Butler's ears perked up.

 

"Whatever you know, I get," Butler said.

 

"Webster's been talking to me all week. Doc, too," Biddle, 25, said, referring to cornerbacks Corey Webster and Kevin Dockery.

 

When the practice-squad players watch the game on Sundays, whether from the hotel or in the friends and family section of Giants Stadium, they do so with the shrewd eye of someone who has studied and prepared with the team all week -- and the vested interest of someone who could earn a ring at season's end, too.

 

Late in the first quarter of the Dallas game, Johnson was slouching in the sofa, and Biddle gave him an elbow to the side.

 

"You've got to sit up for this game," Biddle said.

 

Louis watches the lines during games, looking to adopt his two most coveted traits: right tackle Kareem McKenzie's balance and left tackle David Diehl's quick hands. When he saw a sick underneath move from defensive tackle Jay Alford on his first-quarter sack, he had to applaud.

 

"Good move, boy, good move," he yelled.

 

As the game went on, though, and slowly slipped from the Giants' control, there was less to cheer about. On a failed third-down conversion in the fourth quarter, which forced the Giants to settle for a field goal, Biddle noticed Cowboys cornerback Terence Newman's tight coverage on receiver Domenik Hixon to take him out of the play. Newman, who earlier jumped a hook route by Hixon to intercept Manning, was a headache for the Giants all day.

 

When Dallas running back Tashard Choice scored a 38-yard touchdown to put the Cowboys up by 12 with just over two minutes to play, there wasn't much left to say.

 

"As much as they want to win, we want to win," Louis said. "As much as they want a ring, we want a ring."

 

Three weeks ago, defensive tackle Jeremy Clark was given the chance to help that cause on Sundays. After spending the first 12 weeks of the season on the practice squad, Clark found out the Saturday morning before the Redskins game he'd be filling the roster spot vacated when safety Sammy Knight went on injured reserve. Clark did the paperwork upstairs in the Giants offices, traveled with the team that afternoon and was active for Sunday's game.

 

"(Coach Tom Coughlin) told me, and I kind of tried to keep my smile, but I couldn't help it. He probably saw," Clark said. "It was crazy to go from watching your boys on TV, then your boys are watching you on TV. It was the most fun I'd had in a long time."

 

Biddle was also placed on the roster earlier this season, during Plaxico Burress' two-week suspension, but was inactive for the Seattle game and re-signed to the practice squad when Burress returned. Earlier this month, when Burress was placed on the reserve/non-football injury list with a gunshot wound, the Giants opted to fill his roster spot with a defensive tackle from the practice squad, Leger Douzable. Then, last week, they added free-agent receiver Derek Hagan.

 

But Biddle didn't let himself get discouraged.

 

"I don't even think about that stuff," Biddle said. "If you get your mind made up, you set yourself up for failure. I just do my work until they say, 'Taye, we're going to bring you up.' Then, I'd get excited."

 

Until that happens, Biddle knows his most important job isn't on Sundays. As the Giants' 20-8 loss to the Cowboys went into the books, he and his teammates quietly rode the elevator up to their hotel rooms, knowing what awaited them at the stadium that week.

 

"I hate losing," Biddle said. "It'll be a tough week of practice."

[K3VIN]

i wouldn't mind being payed 5200 a week to be on the practice squad

[Lughead]

i wouldn't mind being payed 5200 a week to be on the practice squad

 

 

Hell I would run out and get the Tee after every kickoff for that.

[Clarence the Blue Puppet]

i wouldn't mind being payed 5200 a week to be on the practice squad

 

Fuck yeah. Where do I sign up?

 

[Herc]

it still only comes out to 80-90k a year. im not taking that kind of beating for such a small salary unless i am chasing the dream

[Lughead]

it still only comes out to 80-90k a year. im not taking that kind of beating for such a small salary unless i am chasing the dream

 

 

Well technically If I was running on to the field to grab up the TEE I would have to be activated for the game right? and the league minimum is what $295,000 every Sunday so $4,7200,000 a year just to be activated to ride the pine and run out and get the TEE

 

 

 

Besides don't they get paid during mini camp(2 weeks) and training camp/preseason? (5 weeks )plus for every week they run into the playoffs(5weeks lastyear) ,whats that pay? so that brings up another question is it $5200/week for them then too?

 

so lets say 30 weeks they still get payed during any bye week $156,000.00/yr Ain't to shabby of a gig

 

[Allstarjim]

Well technically If I was running on to the field to grab up the TEE I would have to be activated for the game right? and the league minimum is what $295,000 every Sunday so $4,7200,000 a year just to be activated to ride the pine and run out and get the TEE

 

 

 

Besides don't they get paid during mini camp(2 weeks) and training camp/preseason? (5 weeks )plus for every week they run into the playoffs(5weeks lastyear) ,whats that pay? so that brings up another question is it $5200/week for them then too?

 

so lets say 30 weeks they still get payed during any bye week $156,000.00/yr Ain't to shabby of a gig

 

I think you misread the article. It says the league minimum SALARY is $295K, not every Sunday, for active players. Still not bad scratch.

[Lughead]

I think you misread the article. It says the league minimum SALARY is $295K, not every Sunday, for active players. Still not bad scratch.

 

 

And, most notably, their earnings through a season amount to about one-third of that for a player on the 53-man roster: $5,200 per week compared to the league's minimum salary of $295,000 for active players.

 

I may have I guess

I don't know

 

1/3= $5,200 so 3/3 of minimum(activated) per week is $15,600

 

$295,000/ $15,600 =18.91 weeks....... that does not = out to the weeks worked?

 

I mean they do work more than 19 weeks right?

[BIGBLUE01]

it still only comes out to 80-90k a year. im not taking that kind of beating for such a small salary unless i am chasing the dream

 

Ummm, either we're on different planets, or you come from a filthy rich family. I would not only do this job for 80-90K a year, but I would do some other jobs that were a tad harder. That's not a small salary. You aren't goin hungry on that salary. now, 25-35K a year, thats small. But 80-90?

[Herc]

 

Ummm, either we're on different planets, or you come from a filthy rich family. I would not only do this job for 80-90K a year, but I would do some other jobs that were a tad harder. That's not a small salary. You aren't goin hungry on that salary. now, 25-35K a year, thats small. But 80-90?

 

 

i grew up on a mailman's salary.

 

80-90k for an office job is fine, but it's not enough to have my ass kicked everyday and shorten my lifespan by 20 years, the latter half of which i'll be living off painkillers and taking 30 mins to get out of bed

 

[Sephiroth]

i wouldn't mind being payed 5200 a week to be on the practice squad

 

Yep. I'd do it in a heartbeat.