Can NFL players really be content staying on the practice squad? Tom Brady certainly seems to think so. The seven-time Super Bowl champion recently offered a controversial take during a podcast appearance, and as expected, the remarks quickly went viral. Several current and former players criticized the 48-year-old on social media. Among them was former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison.

“Nothing about this makes sense,” Harrison said on his YouTube talk show, Deebo & Joe. “Nobody says, ‘I was on the practice squad for six years.’ No! You get a year. After that, you get another, maybe, six games after that. When I played, it was about that. After that, you’re done. You can’t be a career practice squad player. You have to elevate. So, anybody that’s coming in with that mindset, you can’t come in with that mindset. Don’t make sense.

“You’re an owner now, bro. And you’re telling me that you’re looking at your practice squad guys and this is what you’re thinking in your head? He’s thinking, ‘You don’t want it, and you’re cool with sitting your a– on practice squad’.” 

We can find Harrison’s perspective in his own career path. Before he eventually started five straight Pro Bowls (2007-11), the linebacker was cut five times (thrice by the Steelers and once each by the Ravens and the Bengals). Initially, in 2002, the Steelers brought him in as an undrafted free agent. He spent parts of his first couple of years in the practice squad. He also had a brief practice squad stint with the Ravens in 2003 before returning to Pittsburgh in 2004 to grind on the special teams roster. 

But what did Brady exactly say?

“These (practice squad players), they weren’t prepared for (being on the active roster),” Brady noted during an appearance on the UFC’s Champion Mindset podcast. “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. And then what I realized was, a lot of guys on those practice squads, they don’t want to be elevated to the roster. They’re very happy living this life where they could tell their family and friends, which I have no problem with.”

But the reality contradicts Brady’s claim. Practice squad members do everything that players on the active roster do during the week. They endure the same grueling meetings, study the same film, and run the same drills.

But on game day, they wear no uniform and frequently watch the action from a suite. Even though they technically receive Super Bowl rings if their team wins a championship, the perceived value and personal satisfaction are far less. That massive discrepancy is exactly why these athletes desperately want to rise up.

So, expectedly, within hours, league figures responded to Brady’s controversial take, with many prominent figures joining in to lash out at the QB.

What did the others say about Tom Brady’s take on the practice squad?

After Brady’s comments went viral on the internet, Dan Skipper, the Lions assistant coach, sent a quirky reply. 

“This is an absolute bull—take on all accounts,” Skipper wrote. 

“No doubt! A lot that people don’t realize about the squad role,” the assistant coach later responded to his followers. “Sure am (arguing with Brady). As someone who experienced both sides, I can say there is a lot more that goes into it.” 

“I think I can speak for most, if not ALL P-Squad players when I say that making it onto the active roster is your literal daily motivation in every meeting practice and rep day after day,” former Lions FB Jason Cabina wrote on X. “The discrepancies in how you get treated to maybe being on a team that doesn’t allow practice squad players to be on the field during games and having to watch the game up in the suite at the stadium. These are all reminders to improve your grind and put yourself in position to make plays on the active roster!!!”

Another individual, Aakash Gupta, highlighted the payscale difference between the regular players and the practice squad players. Sharing his thoughts on X, he pointed out that NFL practice squad members typically earn $243,000 per year and never play a game. On top of that, they get to use the same facilities, transport, and meals as the active roster. 

Meanwhile, the active roster pays a minimum of $840,000 to the players. And they are also more public, measurable, and accountable. He simply enhanced what Brady had to say. But soon,

Broncos WR Lil’Jordan Humphrey also reacted to Gupta’s post. He claimed that he has never met a single player who was okay with being on the practice squad.

Tom Brady believed he was offering a unique psychological observation. But Harrison and others strongly disagreed. And they made one thing abundantly clear: absolute desperation to reach the top fuels every practice squad player’s daily grind.