A Day in the Life of a New England Patriots Practice Squad Player | Do Your Job: Practice Squad

Intro thank you what are we talking about practice we're talking about practice man we're talking about practice we're talking about practice yes we're talking about practice and it's no joke [Music] the practice squad is the the guys who are looking at the opponent's offense or defense trying to give our offense or defense the best look possible to go out and execute on Sunday [Music] look team or show team dirty show I mean we kind of just give it a little Jazz to it perfect right there right there it's just those guys that are still emulating some of our techniques also learning some of the opponents how they run certain coverages run certain defenses and just trying to go out and execute it at a high level versus our offense or defense [Music] What is the Practice Squad the practice squad is a group that is separate and distinct from the NFL rosters on game day everyone wants to be in the NFL the NFL doesn't want everyone to be in it first phone call was from my older brother who he was spell it out to me and goes look you got to be honest with what your situation is and the best chance for you is to make the practice squad coming out of training camp here in New England several former Patriots began their football careers on the practice squad before carving out NFL careers like guard Stephen Neal a three-time Super Bowl champion who played nine years in the NFL with the Patriots or fullback James Devlin another three-time Super Bowl champ who played eight years in New England hand off to the full-back a leap by Devlin try to fight his way in on the left side still turning Debbie touchdown Patriots [Applause] Dublin both those players are unique as they involved position changes which required more time to develop how about running back Ben Jarvis Green Ellis then Jarvis comes to the right of the 45 he's at the 50 the 45 of the Raiders and smacks it into the end zone the leading rusher on the Patriots Super Bowl 40 16. he's got a first down across the 50-45 east of the 40 of the 35-30 yard line on out of bounds currently miles Bryant has graduated from the practice squad to become a player who played over 60 of the defensive snaps this season Angelo Bentley so in order to be ready to go out and perform on Sundays or Monday nights or Thursday nights whatever day the game is on you need to have some type of preparation or some type of look at what you may see or what the opponent opposing team may bring you come game day the Angelo Bentley is in his first season of coaching with the Patriots among his responsibilities are assisting the practice squad I would say to be a successful practice squad player is just about owning your role owning your job or responsibility whatever that is of you I think it's a NFL football player who gets paid to practice now your commitment to that role I think determines opportunities going forward there's a lot of respect for guys on the prac squad we're talking about guys that have invested the same amount of time and hours as the rest of us throughout the course of the off season and then you know just because you're on the practice squad in season doesn't mean they're spending less time you know in committed to the team so to me maybe it's just because I went through it I have a lot of respect for the guys on the practice squad and their commitment to the team because it's hard I think every practice is important whether you're a practice squad or not where you really need to be committed to the process of fundamental football and improving how can I assist you so you can go out and perform at your best and at the end of the day I'll end up getting better as well because you know Iron sharp and iron and everyone if we can all benefit together and I can give you a certain look that you need um that's that's ultimately what I'm here for [Music] Bill Murray the thing I think about a lot is you know the Super Bowl in Atlanta that we had won um you know Brian Hoyer you know he wasn't a practical guy but a reserve quarterback you know the look he gave you know our defense of what the Rams were doing that week um yeah that stuff's really important and it matters and yeah and I think that's what makes New England special I think we have a lot of guys who kind of are just for the betterment of the team like that's really the what motivates them Bill Murray was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Patriots in May of 2020. after a few years on the practice squad Murray was elevated three times this year to the game day roster I'm ready to do whatever is best for the team I think that's the role for a lot of the guys on the practice squad is whatever can help the team win is the most important thing and like I think a lot of guys who are on that practice squad like they love football and they love winning and they will do whatever it takes to get us to win we had Bill Murray you know get elevated for the third time I was really proud of him because I you know you see the amount of work they put in the time the effort um and it's not easy um it's it's easy to talk about it it's hard to do it and so you know to see someone get rewarded yeah it makes you really happy Practice the most important thing is practice you know for us I think practice is the most important thing that we do because we get a good look at what we're doing and we get to work on our craft and there's a limited amount of time limited amount of reps so we waste one of those like it it hurts because then you're like crap like he's not getting better I just wasted my time I wasted his time I wasted the coach's time I would say it all goes back to your team's culture it all goes back to the messages of you know our leader our leader coach um and you know you're looking for those smart players with tough players those consistent players um guys that you know work hard and just come in day after day trying to get better and trying to just do their job to the best degree they can