Former star quarterback Tom Brady had made a claim earlier this week about why practice-squad players stay at that level only. While an analyst backed up Brady's comments with data, Dan Skipper, a former offensive tackle, pushed back on such claims.

NFL analyst Aakash Gupta supported Brady’s viewpoint, arguing that the practice squad players often receive similar amenities to active-roster players. Skipper, however, took to X to strongly challenge such data and comments.

“This is an absolute b******* take on all accounts,” per X post of Dan Skipper.

Brady had made these comments on the Champion Mindset Podcast, hosted by Daniel Cormier,

“And these guys are like, they weren’t prepared for it,” Brady added. “So whatever we saw in practice against where there was not a lot of pressure, now when they’re put in a situation where there’s an expectation for performance, they’ve never had to personally deal with that, and then they fail.”

He claimed that such players wanted the status of being on a roster but did not want to deal with the pressure of performing at the top.

Analyst Aakash Gupta backed his claim by comparing the pay scale of both the active rosters and the practice squad players, who are paid regardless of their spot and game time. 

“NFL practice squad players earn $234K a year to never play a game,” per Gupta’s X post. “$13,000 a week. The active roster pays $840,000 minimum, three and a half times more. The $606,000 gap between practice squad and active roster is the annual price of pressure avoidance."

While Gupta claims that such players avoid the scrutiny that comes with 'dropping a pass in front of 70,000 people watching it,’ many NFL players were against such claims. 

NFL Players Push Back on Practice Squad Narrative

Since making his NFL debut in 2019, Lil' Jordan Humphrey has spent considerable time on practice squads. The Denver Broncos wide receiver disagreed with Brady's comments that players avoid getting on the roster because of the pressure that comes with it.

"Haven’t met one person who is okay with just being on the PSquad," per X post of Humphrey.

Former NFL defensive end Kenny Hyder Jr. agreed with Humphrey and stated that being part of the NFL roster squad is all that a practice squad player can dream of.

"That’s just simply not true," Hyder wrote in his X post. "As a former practice squad player for my first two seasons. It’s literally all you think about 24/7. How can I get on the roster? Then one mistake could end your career. That’s pressure. How am I going to take care of my family? You could argue it’s the most pressure."

Though pressure is inevitable in being part of the roster squad, players criticized both Gupta’s and Brady’s claims, stating that such players cope with pressure to support their families, not simply the pressure of playing for NFL teams.

Do you agree with Tom Brady's take?

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Written by

Archana Ramakrishnan

Edited by

Zaid Quraishi