Bears practice squad eager for shot to play Sundays

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

For more Bears coverage, visit ChicagoFootball365.com

LAKE FOREST – Ervin Baldwin’s locker at Halas Hall is a few feet away from $33 million man Adewale Ogunleye, but the dark blue carpet between them might as well separate two worlds.

Baldwin, 22, is one of eight players on the Bears practice squad. He earns $5,200 a week during the season to practice with the team’s veteran millionaires in what amounts to a prestigious NFL internship.

“You could say that,” said Baldwin, a defensive end from Michigan State. “You’re learning from the best and watching these older guys. You’re always just one play away because you never know.”

The NFL is notorious for uncertain contracts and short-lived careers.

But even by NFL standards, the life of a practice squad player includes few guarantees beyond the day at hand.

The Bears have signed and released a half-dozen players from the practice squad this season. The squad’s job is to simulate the next opponent’s plays each week in practice so that Bears players are familiar with each offense, defense and special teams unit they oppose throughout the season.

Although practice-squad players are prohibited from playing on Sundays, Bears coach Lovie Smith said they played a large role in the team’s 3-1 start to the season.

“They mean everything,” Smith said. “If you say what has helped you guys get better each week, I would say it’s the looks that we’re getting in practice. We couldn’t have a good practice without them.”

Quarterback Brett Basanez could have earned the minimum salary of $310,000 if the Bears had kept him on the active roster this season. Instead, he has tallied $26,000 through five weeks on the practice squad.

Basanez said he was grateful for anything that allowed him to play football. He puts in the same long days at Halas Hall as Jay Cutler, whom many expect to sign a $100 million contract after the season.

“For me, I’m the third quarterback,” said Basanez, a Northwestern graduate who played one game for the Carolina Panthers in 2006. “I get here with Jay. We start early. We leave late. That’s what it is. Being on the practice squad is kind of just a title. It’s not who you are.”

The NFL allows certain players to be eligible for the practice squad. Players can not have played more than nine regular-season games nor have been on the active roster for a full season to be eligible.

In addition, players may not spend more than two seasons on the same team’s practice squad. Any team may sign a practice-squad player to their active roster, which makes each day a league-wide audition.

“I just try and learn as much from the older guys and try to get better every day,” Bears practice-squad center Donovan Raiola said. “Going out there and practicing against the starters, it helps out to see what it’s like to be a really good player in the NFL.”

In the season’s first four weeks, Basanez has pored over film of Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, Seneca Wallace and Matthew Stafford. He has played the role of each quarterback during practice and studied opposing defenses to help Cutler during game days.

“As soon as he comes off [the field], I’m telling him what I’m seeing,” Basanez said. “We’re looking at the pictures together. I’m trying to tell him what little things that might tell him, ‘All right, it’s this coverage if he’s four yards outside the numbers,’ or ‘This is their signal.’ ”

Basanez said the opportunity to play football far outweighed his role away from the spotlight.

“The paycheck is obviously a lot different,” Basanez said. “But this is what I want to do, and I want to coach when I’m done. So regardless of practice squad or active [roster], I’m just trying to get better and learn as much as I can and help the team.”

By helping the team, Baldwin said, each player on the practice squad was helping themselves.

“You’ve just got to go out and try to get the guys better, man, and give the team a great look,” Baldwin said. “But at the same time, you also want to keep developing, like Coach [Rod] Marinelli says. Keep developing and getting better as a player, because you never know when your name might be called.”