Practice makes perfect
Unheralded scout team helps shape Bears into Super Bowl contenders
Talk about practice.
Within days of signing rookie defensive back Dwayne Slay to the Bears practice squad in November, the coaching staff issued him a daunting task: Imitate veteran Plaxico Burress, the mouthy and elusive wide receiver of the New York Giants. Easier said than done.
Jeff Roberson / The Associated Press
(John J. Kim/Sun-Times News Group)
For starters, Slay couldn't possibly account for the extra 2 inches and 18 pounds Burress has on him. Nor could he dare taunt Bears defensive back Charles Tillman the way Burress had done that week, calling him "average."
By no means could Slay - a first-team All-America safety out of Texas Tech - be expected to replicate the abilities of the offensive-minded Burress before the teams' highly anticipated Week 10 matchup.
"I'm not Plaxico Burress," Slay said. "And I'm not trying to be."
Slay stuck to the Bears game plan by simply providing a good look of a potentially dangerous Giants player during walk-throughs, allowing Tillman to accomplish the rest of the mission.
As it turned out, Tillman and his teammates chewed up, swallowed and spit out Burress' brazen words. The Bears limited him to four catches for 48 yards and no touchdowns in a nationally televised 38-20 Bears win at Giants Stadium. Tillman even intercepted a pass intended for Burress, returning it 11 yards.
Ppractice made perfect.
The NFL instituted the practice squad in 1989. Since then, it's been adapted by every team in the league and appropriately nicknamed the "look team" or the "scout team" by many of them.
The main goal of each team's (maximum) eight-man practice squad is to provide its 53-man active roster with an educated view of the opponent. Consider these selfless players the last line of preparation for the starters after they absorb and review game film, chalk talk and previous firsthand experience.
"It's huge, because they're the look that we get all week," said Bears wide receiver Rashied Davis, who spent most of the 2002 season on an Arena Football League practice squad. "If they're not in the right place and they're not working hard, then we're not getting a good look. Then when we get to the game - we're not as prepared as we would be."
The practice squad's assignments don't begin in the film room, as some might think, but rather on the practice field. Slay's first glimpse of Burress came in the form of diagrams in a book that illustrated offensive and defensive formations as Xs and Os, and routes as drawn-out lines.
The task is a lot like preparing for a theater production. Coaches stage players exactly where they should be on game day, like directors positioning actors before the show. As for the dress rehearsal, some players wear colored jerseys with their opponent's number on it. Then it's time to know your lines, or in this case the plays, as Slay tried to do for Tillman.
"We work hard, as far as, I'm coming onto him and giving him blocks and working his hands and getting him off the block," Slay said. "That's what me and Charles do; we always work the skills, because he always wants to work his hands getting out of the block. So that's what he's out there doing. It definitely showed during the (Giants) game."
Slay's first stint on the Bears roster began May 5 - less than a week after he had much higher hopes of being selected on the first day of the NFL draft. He made Sports Illustrated's All-America team and earned Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors after recording a conference-record eight forced fumbles (second in the nation). Still, he wasn't drafted.
Matters worsened when the Bears waived Slay on Aug. 28 after a hamstring injury. For more than two months, Slay sat around praying and watching TV in Texas before finally getting his second invitation from the Bears.
"'Thank you, Jesus!'" Slay recalled saying upon signing to the practice squad. "I was jumping around in the room and gave my mom a call, everyone a call, to say, 'Hey listen, I got another shot, and I'm going to go make the most of it.'"
General Manager Jerry Angelo has made 29 transactions (through Thursday) to and from the Bears practice squad this year, trying to find the perfect mix of players for coach Lovie Smith's actives.
Angelo and Smith have settled on third-year tight end Richard Angulo (Western New Mexico), second-year receiver Brandon Rideau (Kansas) and the following rookies: Slay, defensive end Copeland Bryan (Arizona), receiver Mike Hass (Oregon State), tackle Mark LeVoir (Notre Dame) and guard Tyler Reed (Penn State).
According to league officials, about 15 percent of all active and inactive NFL players have served on a practice squad at some point in their career. All current practice squad players are considered free agents and can sign with any team at any time.
"There's guys out there that have done it," said Reed, a 2006 Bears draft pick who wishes to make an active roster during his three years of practice-squad eligibility. "There's a few guys on the practice squad that get activated every once in a while. So yeah, there's hope."
Nobody knows the less-traveled path to NFL success better than the Bears' Davis, whose resume includes no high school football experience and a stop at West Los Angeles Community College before finishing his amateur career at San Jose State.
Then it was off to practice squad duty with San Jose of the AFL, which Davis recalls with exasperation. He spent the first two games on the SaberCats active roster before heading to the practice squad, where he could only watch the rest of a magical season, similar to the one the Bears are having now.
The SaberCats finished 17-1, won ArenaBowl XVI and was voted as the greatest team in AFL history this May. All the while Davis felt as though he should have been on the team's active roster, not only so he could help the team win but so he could make more money.
He's not alone in that feeling.
According to the NFL Players Association, practice squad players are guaranteed a minimum salary of $79,900 for a 17-week season, versus the rookie minimum of $275,000 awarded to players on the active roster. A lucky few, about 5 percent of all practice squad players, make more than the league minimum of $4,700 a week.
"I was making like $250 a week (in the AFL)," Davis said. "I guess in the NFL, to be on the practice squad is more - I mean, it's more - shoot, you're in the NFL. You're on an NFL squad. You're not on the 53, but you're still on the team. They thought highly enough to keep you around and try to develop you."
Davis eventually played the next three seasons on the SaberCats' active roster and earned the 2005 Most Valuable Player award after setting a team record with 44 touchdowns.
The rest, as people say, is history; but too bad for Davis his past followed him a while longer. In his first season with the Bears last year, Davis cracked the active roster and played on special teams, but he also participated as a scout team player during the week.
Davis played practice-squad corner and receiver for the Bears last season, because there aren't enough practice squad players to completely fill an offense and defense. Therefore Davis lined up as Atlanta running back Warrick Dunn, Carolina wide receiver Steve Smith and even Falcons quarterback Michael Vick during practice.
Despite the grind of trying to learn your own position plus being someone like Smith - which Davis said can't really be done - the Bears' current practice squad seems excited to be in Chicago and without many complaints.
"It's fun," said rookie safety Tyler Everett, who took pride in seeing Bears receiver Muhsin Muhammad play a good game after covering him in practice.
Now Everett's on the active roster.
"I wouldn't want to be somewhere else. I could be working 9-5 somewhere with a 30-minute break. It's an opportunity you have to take advantage of," he said.
Bears starting linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer spent his first three weeks with the Bears on the 2003 practice squad before finally getting activated. He finished that year on special teams and the following season made his first NFL start at middle linebacker - thanks to a hamstring injury to Brian Urlacher, last year's Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year.
If not for Urlacher's injury, Hillenmeyer may still be stuck on special teams behind a perennial starter and without a five-year contract extension in his back pocket. And if not for leading the team with eight tackles, one tackle for loss and a fumble recovery against Minnesota during that first start, he may still be biding time as a backup.
"If you look at my entire NFL career, it's amazing how much of it comes down to the fact that Brian hurt his hamstring and I got a chance to prove myself," said Hillenmeyer, the Bears' third-leading tackler in the last two years. "I always joke with him that I'm glad he got hurt that year. I'm the only one in Chicago (that feels that way)."
Success stories like Hillenmeyer's prompted the NFL and the Players Association to increase the maximum number of practice squad players per team from five to eight in 2004.
In addition to creating more jobs and saving each team's active roster from additional wear and tear during practice, the list of players who have vaulted from the practice squad to solid careers - even stardom - speaks for itself.
Super Bowl quarterbacks like Seattle's Matt Hasselbeck and Carolina's Jake Delhomme made active rosters via practice squads. Pro Bowlers like Arizona safety Robert Griffith, Seattle fullback Mack Strong and Denver receiver Rod Smith did the same.
That's exactly why the Bears treat their practice squad players much like those on the active roster. A couple of them still have to share lockers and they don't travel with the team to away games, but they do eat and train with the team and get credit from the coaching staff for making it a winner.
"It's almost like red-shirting in college," said Everett, a part of Ohio State's 2002 national championship team. "You only go to the home games, you don't travel, but you get paid for doing it. I mean, it's fun being around these guys. You never know - your number could be called at any time."
Everett got that call on Dec. 9. His promotion to the active roster came just in time for him to suit up with the dynamic special teams unit for the Bears' Monday night win against St. Louis in Week 14.
Everett's promotion not only allowed him to take part in that game, but it guaranteed him a minimum of three game checks at the minimum active-roster rate - nearly $50,000 - and the opportunity to earn a permanent spot on the Bears playoff roster.
"That's what you work for, being on practice squad - you just wait for the opportunity. And the opportunity came this week when they put me in there, starting me out on kickoff reps," Everett said as he changed out of his game uniform for the first time. "I'm just trying to make something happen."
Everett, and the six other members of Chicago's practice squad, through their diligent work have helped the Bears attain an NFC-best 13-2 record and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. It's something these unsung players can celebrate as they head into tonight's regular-season finale against Green Bay, even though serving their all-important role means never playing on Sundays.
"You know what, I look at this situation as the glass being halfway full instead of halfway empty," said Slay, still waiting for his big chance with the Bears. "Great things come out of good things, so right now I'm just taking it one day at a time and just praying to God that everything will work out fine.
"I'm sure it will."
Contact Brad Engel at bengel@scn1.com or 630-416-5289.