NFL practice squad is not a bad living
This week’s Answers & Questions open forum contains a lot of great advice and insights from Seahawks fans — read it for Seattle’s hidden gems and best restaurant experiences that I didn’t post here — so I had to share some of your favorite highlights from the franchise’s past.
It wasn’t intended as a mailbag, but I also answered some of your questions to the best of my knowledge.
As I was searching for Seahawks highlights, I came across this 1978 feature on Jim Zorn that most Seahawks fans have probably never seen…or haven’t seen in almost 50 years.
Blair: one of the greatest plays of all time> Effren Herrea is set to kick a field goal Zorn is the holder the snap goes to Effren and Zorn rolls out to catch a pass from him for a Touchdown !!!
This is not the play you’re talking about, but it’s similar and it’s one I could find on YouTube.
Bob: Just curious, what kind of support do these young men, and perhaps for some, their famlies, get from the Seahawks on making that move to Seattle? What are the supply and logistics getting these new Hawks settled here so they can focus on becoming the best possible version of themselves...on and off the field?
The Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NFL and the NFL Players Association guarantees certain travel and relocation benefits. For example:
Pay for a moving company
Pay for first class plane tickets for him and his spouse
Up to 2 months rent or mortgage for where they lived in their previous city (up to $9,000 as of 2026)
One week of a hotel in the new city
This would apply to rookies and veteran players who are traded or claimed on waivers. Of course, this is just what’s in the CBA and I imagine that the Seahawks or really any team is providing a means to live for any player until that person can reasonably get on their feet. So if you’re an undrafted free agent who isn’t getting paid a lot of money and isn’t certain you’ll make the team, the team will take care of you as long as you’re on the roster.
As soon as you get to minicamp, OTAs, or training camp, room and board and per diem will be provided. Then even if you make the practice squad you’re getting a minimum of $13,000 per week.
If I was on the practice squad, I would still try to split an apartment with as many teammates as possible and squirrel away as much of those earnings as possible for however long I’m working for an NFL team … because it probably won’t be for long.
Bill Lord: All time favorite: Largent blowing up the Denver defensive back after an interception, knocking the ball loose and recovering the fumble. Priceless.
Chuck Turtleman: If I have to play by the “10 years younger me” to advise rule; I think I’d just tell myself a couple of things that seem kind of morbid. First, that my Mom is going to die in the the next few years and to spend more time with her and ask more questions. And that my old roommate and best friend is going to come down with terminal cancer too, and to say yes when he invites me places. And if it’s allowable, to warn him to get checked so that it could be caught sooner. I’d take that any day over “buy bitcoin” or whatever.
I guess a big part of these thought exercises are to remind ourselves of what we should be aware of now. And I have an 87 year old Dad and some great friends who I don’t catch up with often enough.
Great advice for us all, Chuck.
Grant: According to the google machine, Jadarian is pronounced "juh-DAR-ee-an" but I hear a lot of people calling him "juh-DAIR-ee-an." I'm not sure what to do!
His head coach at Notre Dame calls him “Ja-Dah-Rian”.
MTerryScnwrtr: One question that I've always wondered about: Who is in charge of Seahawks merch getting handed out to players who have been drafted? Do they just have a box of jerseys and shirts and hats sitting around - or does someone go to a team store and just start grabbing stuff off the racks?
Here’s a video about the making of jerseys during the 2015 draft. Julian Neal’s been telling the story that he was supposed to get all 32 hats but they didn’t arrive in time, so he had his aunt go buy him one hat and it happened to be the Seahawks. Here’s the Seahawks explaining how they break in cleats before the game.
Not the Seahawks, but if you’re just interested in pre-game equipment explanations, here’s one from the Chargers.
CavMax: Tony Romo getting hammered just shy of the goal line.
Bret: Stop deferring discomfort. The immediate pain of toil leads to the simultaneous comfort and pride which attend genuine achievement.
I could use more of this!
CavMax: Just read Tyrone Broden switching to cb. Really fast 6'5" cb. All right then.
It’s perhaps his best shot to make that $13,000 per week on the practice squad next season.
CJ Watson: Would you mind reposting among the Hawks who were drafted, who came in for a predraft 30 visit? Thanks!
The Seahawks met with G Beau Stephens and CB Andre Fuller. But those are just from official lists. By all accounts they some face-to-face with Jadarian Price and probably the others, to some degree.
Whose highlights should people go back and watch?
Not a Seahawk, but a few people said Barry Sanders. Posting NFL highlights is tough, but his college highlights might have been better anyway.
IdahoFred: Who is your favorite to win the super bowl and why.
I know the Seahawks are my favorite to win the Super Bowl, but that’s going to be a really unoriginal answer around these parts. So I’ll say that my NFC Championship game prediction is Seahawks-Lions and my AFC Championship prediction is Chiefs-Texans.
What are your conference championship game predictions?
I saw an interview with John Schneider about funny conversations he'd had with players over the years. He had some doozies. One was about an undrafted guy who was invited to camp and he was giving him the details about $10,000 to appear in try outs and so forth. The player told him that he only had about $900 but could get the rest from his family. John had to explain, "No, no; we pay YOU!"
NFL practice squad may not be a bad living, but Ready Squad is better!