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As BlackandGoldInsider.com told you First that Steeler QB Ben Roethlisberger will not play when the Steelers open the 2006 Season on Thursday Night against the Miami Dolphins.

Moments ago Coach Bill Cowher ruled his star quarterback OUT because of an emergency appendectomy. Roethlisberger laundry list of injuries continue this morning as he was forced to enter a Pittsburgh area hospital.

At this time it is not certain how long the injury will sideline the star QB.

Veteran QB Charlie Batch will start in his place, and now the Steelers are in the market for a back-up to Batch.

BlackandGoldInsider.com is currently on the phone with sources to find who the Steelers' might be interested in signing. As always, check back for the lastest news.

What are the rules for coming and going from the practice squad?

I have no idea...here's ESPN's link on Big Ben's latest problem

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2572171

TG1996 wrote:What are the rules for coming and going from the practice squad?

As long as a player is "practice squad eligible" they can go back and forth to the active roster as many times as necessary, I believe. In order to lose eligibility for the practice squad he would have to be on the gameday roster for a certain number of weeks, not sure how many that is. You can also only spend 2 full seasons on the practice squad, I believe.

If another team were to sign him though they would have to leave him on their 53 though, otherwise he would be back to Pittsburgh's practice squad, if they still wanted him.

http://news.steelers.com/article/68653/


My guess is Pit will not sign a Vet Qb prior to the game. But will scramble if batch goes down.
i wonder if Batch does poorly moving the ball, will they take the opurtunity to put Omar in, since he was having success at the end there and was passing very well.

Cowher said Omar will have a chance this week to compete for the No. 2 job. Good luck to him!

Steelers re-sign St. Pierre with Big Ben ailing Click here to find out more!
NFL.com wire reports

PITTSBURGH (Sept. 4, 2006) -- Brian St. Pierre, a former Pittsburgh Steelers backup quarterback cut by the Baltimore Ravens last weekend, was signed to the Steelers' practice squad.

Either St. Pierre or Omar Jacobs, a rookie on the practice squad, will be activated as Charlie Batch's backup for the team's Sept. 7 season-opening game against Miami. Coach Bill Cowher will make up his mind after watching both in practice.

The Steelers had to scramble to find a quarterback after starter Ben Roethlisberger had an emergency appendectomy Sept. 3. He will miss at least one game.

St. Pierre, a former Boston College quarterback, was a fifth-round pick by the Steelers in 2003 and shuttled between their active roster and the practice squad before being cut during the final preseason roster cutdown last year.

He had a chance to return to the Steelers when Roethlisberger injured a knee at midseason, but signed instead with the Ravens and was on their active roster for four games last season.

St. Pierre has thrown one pass in the NFL, an incompletion against Buffalo during the final game of the 2004 regular season.
If Omar has grown and progressed he should be a lock for #2 this week

That article is incorrect. If Omar is on the PS he cant play in a regular season game. He would have to be added to the roster. He was not based off what that article said.

MatelaAntwerp wrote:That article is incorrect. If Omar is on the PS he cant play in a regular season game. He would have to be added to the roster. He was not based off what that article said.

Yes he can

Practice squad players can be shuffled in and out of the regular roster, but another owner can take any player on the practice squad in any given week. However, that player must be active and in the starting lineup of the new owner that week. Ex.) If Jim Nantz takes Steven Jackson off Brent Jones' practice squad during a given week, Jim must then start Jackson in his next game.

http://sportsline.com/nfl/fantasy/gridiron/rules

So as it stands Bill can put one, both or neither of the QBs on his PS to the roster, if he goes with an option of taking a QB from another PS that QB must be given a roster spot for that week only at minimum to meet league rules, he can then rotate as many players as he feels from the PS to the roster each week.
thus AFIRMING the article.

MACMAN wrote:

MatelaAntwerp wrote:That article is incorrect. If Omar is on the PS he cant play in a regular season game. He would have to be added to the roster. He was not based off what that article said.

Yes he can

Practice squad players can be shuffled in and out of the regular roster, but another owner can take any player on the practice squad in any given week. However, that player must be active and in the starting lineup of the new owner that week. Ex.) If Jim Nantz takes Steven Jackson off Brent Jones' practice squad during a given week, Jim must then start Jackson in his next game.

http://sportsline.com/nfl/fantasy/gridiron/rules

So as it stands Bill can put one, both or neither of the QBs on his PS to the roster, if he goes with an option of taking a QB from another PS that QB must be given a roster spot for that week only at minimum to meet league rules, he can then rotate as many players as he feels from the PS to the roster each week.
thus AFIRMING the article.

The link you are referencing is dealing with a fantasy football league, not the NFL. A player has to be signed to the active roster from the practice squad in order to play. If a player from another team's practice squad is signed he has to be on the 53-man roster for the rest of the season or his rights go back to the team he was taken from.

doughash wrote:If a player from another team's practice squad is signed he has to be on the 53-man roster for the rest of the season or his rights go back to the team he was taken from.

But if he's moved from his OWN team's practice squad, how does going back and forth work? Does he go through waivers again? Or does the team just designate by a certain time each week who is on the active roster and who is designated to the practice squad?

TG1996 wrote:

doughash wrote:If a player from another team's practice squad is signed he has to be on the 53-man roster for the rest of the season or his rights go back to the team he was taken from.

But if he's moved from his OWN team's practice squad, how does going back and forth work? Does he go through waivers again? Or does the team just designate by a certain time each week who is on the active roster and who is designated to the practice squad?

He would have to be signed from the practice squad and the team must stay under the 53 man active roster limit. MatelaAntwerp is right.

TG1996 wrote:

doughash wrote:If a player from another team's practice squad is signed he has to be on the 53-man roster for the rest of the season or his rights go back to the team he was taken from.

But if he's moved from his OWN team's practice squad, how does going back and forth work? Does he go through waivers again? Or does the team just designate by a certain time each week who is on the active roster and who is designated to the practice squad?

I'm not 100% sure of all the ramifications of moving back and forth between the practice squad. I do know that practice squad players make significantly less than the league minimum so in weeks where they are active I would assume they have a league minimum contract. I'm sure there is some sort of waiver process in going back to the practice squad but in a sense they are always on waivers since another team can pick them up at any time. On gameday 46 players from the 53-man roster are declared active and the other 7 are inactive for that game. This is aside from the practice squad.

doughash wrote:I'm not 100% sure of all the ramifications of moving back and forth between the practice squad. I do know that practice squad players make significantly less than the league minimum so in weeks where they are active I would assume they have a league minimum contract. I'm sure there is some sort of waiver process in going back to the practice squad but in a sense they are always on waivers since another team can pick them up at any time. On gameday 46 players from the 53-man roster are declared active and the other 7 are inactive for that game. This is aside from the practice squad.

I think you're right as far as pay goes. A player likely gets 1/16th of some league minimum, or whatever is written into a contract, I guess, if they appear on the active roster. A thought I just had is that waivers may be different from the practice squad as far as other teams go, where you could sign someone off waivers and put them on their own practice squad, as opposed to having to keep them on the 53 man roster if they signed them off the PS.

Soooo confusing...

TG1996 wrote:

doughash wrote:I'm not 100% sure of all the ramifications of moving back and forth between the practice squad. I do know that practice squad players make significantly less than the league minimum so in weeks where they are active I would assume they have a league minimum contract. I'm sure there is some sort of waiver process in going back to the practice squad but in a sense they are always on waivers since another team can pick them up at any time. On gameday 46 players from the 53-man roster are declared active and the other 7 are inactive for that game. This is aside from the practice squad.

I think you're right as far as pay goes. A player likely gets 1/16th of some league minimum, or whatever is written into a contract, I guess, if they appear on the active roster. A thought I just had is that waivers may be different from the practice squad as far as other teams go, where you could sign someone off waivers and put them on their own practice squad, as opposed to having to keep them on the 53 man roster if they signed them off the PS.

Soooo confusing...

While I'm not positive, I do believe you have it correct TG. Right now Omar is on the practice squad. The possible moves are:

A) Pittsburgh signs him to a league minimum contract for the 53 man roster (prorated for the # of weeks he's on the 53).
B) Another team signs him to a league minimum contract for their 53 man roster.
C) He stays on Pittsburgh's practice squad until they don't want him there.

If he is signed by Pittsburgh for their 53, they would have to again place him on waivers to put him on their practice squad. That would allow any team in the league to sign him for their active roster or practice squad right away. If he cleared waivers they could put him back on their practice squad.

If he is signed by any other NFL team off of Pittsburgh's practice squad he must remain on their 53 man roster for the remainder of the season, or he goes back to the Pittsburgh practice squad.