North Bay’s Ryan Hunter was released by the Chiefs yesterday, but today he has accepted a practice squad spot, the NFL team announced on Sunday.
Hunter one of the seven Canadian players who were among the nearly 1200 players cut by Saturday afternoon’s cutdown deadline as NFL teams trimmed their 90-man training camp rosters to 53, in preparation for the start of the regular season next week.
Hunter was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent out of Bowling Green a week after the NFL Draft.
The offensive lineman earned some quality playing time in the pre-season games but still was unable to make the Chiefs 53-man roster.
How the practice squad in the NFL works is each team is allowed a group of up to ten players who do now count against the 53-man roster. The practice squad is used, typically, to develop younger guys, while also giving the team itself a group of players who are used to replicate the offense or defense of the upcoming opponent.
Practice squad players receive a weekly salary, though there are no guarantees tied to it. The minimum salary defined in the collective bargaining agreement is $7,600 per week for 2018, or $129,200 for the year.
