Patriots make their first eight practice squad signings official

The New England Patriots’ labor-intensive weekend is coming to an end, as the next step towards building the team’s 2019 version are taken. On Sunday afternoon, for example, the reigning world champions announced signing a first wave of players to their initial practice squad — all of them had previously been reported to join it as a look at our practice squad and waiver wire tracker shows.

According to the Patriots, therefore, the following eight men were signed:

TE Stephen Anderson

LB Terez Hall

FB Jakob Johnson

DL Ufomba Kamalu

LB Calvin Munson

OT Dan Skipper

OT Tyree St. Louis

DT Nick Thurman

The names on this list are all rather familiar, considering that all eight men spent training camp with the Patriots. Of the eight, three — Stephen Anderson, Ufomba Kamalu and Calvin Munson — are so-called ‘accrued exceptions,’ meaning that they have more NFL seasons on their résumé than a player eligible for the practice squad usually have. Teams can have a maximum of four such players on the 10-man team.

Speaking of exceptions, Jakob Johnson will not count against the limit: the German-born fullback was assigned to the Patriots via the league’s International Pathway Program and allowed to practice and play with the team this summer without counting against the roster limit. Since he did not get signed by another team after getting waived, he automatically transferred to the Patriots’ practice squad.

As opposed to the other seven players listed above, however, he will not be able to get promoted to the active roster throughout the season. Those seven men will also soon be joined by other players: with Johnson not counting against the practice squad limit, three spots remain open.