Each football team is constructed of a variety of positions and skill players on offense, defense and special teams. With each player having an important role to their team’s success.
In football there are 11 players on each team at any given time during the game, regardless of the league or level. (11 offensive players and 11 defensive players). In the NFL, teams are limited to a 53-man roster during the season, only 46 of these players can be active and dress for game day.
In college football (NCAA), teams can have 123 players on their rosters, but not all of them will travel with the team or dress for each game. In high school football, most districts don’t limit the number of players a team can have, but most schools will carry a roster between 40-70 depending on the size of the school.
With that being said, the rules of how many players a team can have on their roster can vary upon the league and level of play.
In this article we are taking a deep dive into how many players can be on a football team at each level as well as explaining how each manages their teams throughout the season.
How Many Players Are On a Football Team by League
Here is a quick breakdown on how many players can be on a team at each level of football as well as some insight on how they manage their rosters during the season.
NFL
In the NFL, teams are allowed to have a 53 player roster and of these 53, only 46 players can dress and participate in the actual game during the week. This is according to the NFL rules.
In addition to the 53-man roster NFL teams can also have 10-16 players on their practice squad. The practice squad are players that practice with an NFL team but do not participate in the games.
The practice squad allows teams to develop certain players, and make sure they are ready if injuries occur to those players on their 53-man roster. This means that NFL teams can have 53 players on their roster, but can practice with 69 players each week and dress 46 that can actively play in the games.
With that being said, the NFL doesn’t specify how NFL teams should construct and build their roster and there aren’t any rules on how many players you can have at each position.
As a result, each team has their own strategy and philosophy around building their own roster. Some teams will build with young players while others add more veteran players.
Some teams may have more players at a certain position than others. While others may only carry a couple at each position. It all depends on the needs and strategies of each team.
For more information on how NFL teams construct and manage their rosters, check out this article by Bleacher Report: The Anatomy of a 53-Man Roster in the NFL
NFL Coaches
Although the NFL has clear rules around how many players can be on a roster at a given time, there are no specific rules regarding the number of coaches each team can have. Teams are allowed to have as few or as many coaches as they want.
In the NFL the average number of coaches each NFL team has is 22.3. With the most number of coaches being around 28 and the least being 14. These coaches will be assigned to the offense, defensive, special teams and strength and conditioning. (Source: Headcoachingrankings.com)
College
In college the number of players a team can have on their roster and how they can manage their team is much different than the NFL. College football teams are allowed to have a 123 players on their active rosters. However, not all of these players will dress or travel with the team.
Out of the 123 player 85 of those players will typically receive a scholarship while the remanding spots are reserved for walk-on players. Football scholarships are only valid one year, and can be renewed on an annual basis.
One thing that makes college football unique from the NFL is how they handle eligibility. The NCAA gives athlete 5 years to compete in 4 seasons, with the fifth year being a red-shirt year.
To help student athletes take full advantage of their football eligibility the NCAA has certain rules which allow them to delay or suspend their participation on the team in order to lengthen their eligibility
Here are few of the basic rules around extending eligibility:
Red Shirt
A redshirt is a player who is enrolled as a full-time student, who participates in practice and team events, but does not play in any games. Redshirting is typically done to provide the athlete with an opportunity to learn or to recovering from an injury without losing a year of eligibility.
Grey Shirt
A greyshirt is an athlete who enrolls at the school as a part time student or delay their enrollment to extend their football eligibility. The five-year eligibility clock does not begin unless a student is enrolled full-time. Basically they are not considered a member of the football team until they enroll as a full time student.
For more information on the specific rules regarding college athlete eligibility, check out this NCAA website.
College Football Coaches
Unlike the NFL where there are not specific rules regarding how many coaches a team can have the NCCA restricts how many coaches can be on a team.
Per the NCAA rules, a team is allowed to have on Head Coach, nine assistants, four graduate assistants, and five strength and conditioning coaches.
High School
The amount of players a high school football team can have on their rosters can depend on the state, and school district. In general, the majority of high school football programs don’t limit the number of players that they on their rosters.
With that being said, most high schools will carry a roster between 40-70 depending on the size of school. However, there is a varsity, junior varsity, sophomore and freshmen teams, if the school has enough players that are wanting to play.
A high school football coach can also decide at what level he wants his football players to be playing at. For example, a coach may call on a player on the sophomore team to play in a varsity game due to injury, poor performance from other varsity players or because the sophomore player is talented. If this player does well he may get move up to the varsity level.
Final Thoughts
Football is the ultimate team game perhaps more so than any other sport out there. If a team is going to have success it takes significant contributions from the offensive, defensive and special teams in order to be successful.
In this article we discussed that a team can have 11 players on the field at any given time during the game. If there are more than 11 players when the ball is snapped the team will be penalized.
The amount of players a team can have on their active roster and dress for game day is dependent upon the football league and level.
I hope you have found the information in this article to be insightful and that it helps you better understand how football rosters are constructed at each level of the game and how many players can be on each team.