Like Flanagan explains, there is a small margin of error while on the practice squad. Every practice is an audition to make the 53.

But while practice squad players may see similar workloads as their active roster counterparts, their compensation is not in the same area code. Per the NFL's most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement, the minimum weekly salary for practice squad players in 2018 was $7,600.

That means a practice squad player who manages to stay healthy, and employed, for the whole season would earn $129,000 before taxes. The minimum salary for an undrafted free agent rookie on the active roster in 2018 was $480,000, or around 73 percent higher than a practice squad player's earnings.

For those who find themselves on the outside of NFL rosters, options to continue playing and developing are limited. The Canadian Football League has a $5.2 million hard cap per team (split between 46 players) and the season runs at the same time as the NFL's. Playing in the Arena League usually requires a player to hold a second job. The Alliance of American Football, a new league starting this weekend, promises to be another substantial opportunity.

As Flanagan and many others know, when given the chance to take an active roster spot, oftentimes on another NFL team, it makes sense why practice squad players are willing to drop everything and move. When another team calls you midseason, you put down the scout team playbook and pack your bags.

Always Searching

Alex Santos sits at his wrap-around desk, shifting his focus between two desktop monitors and a laptop. It's Week 16 of the 2018 season, and playing across from him on a large wall-mounted TV is film from a preseason game. Behind him and to his left are two massive whiteboards with smudged lists of players and their positions.

"Alright, so I'm going to try to multitask while we do some of this stuff here," Santos says as he glances from monitor to laptop and back again. He's used to multitasking.

Santos has been in the Redskins pro personnel department for 13 seasons, and has been the Director of Pro Personnel for the last five.

In contrast to college scouts, pro scouts are tasked with identifying players available to sign midseason. Many in-season signings are dictated by injuries, and it's often Santos and his team who must act quickly to patch holes on the roster.

"It's been a miserable f------ year in terms of injuries," Santos says. "No team is immune to it, we all deal with it, some people just deal with it more than others, but the last few years have really hit us hard. The injury bug has hit us really, really hard."

Santos isn't exaggerating. The Redskins finished 2018 with 24 players on Injured Reserve, the most in the NFL. New faces came and went at Redskins Park, shuffling between the practice squad and the active roster as was dictated by injuries.

Heading into Week 15, the Redskins still found themselves in one of those situations. After losing their top three guards for the season (Brandon Scherff, Shawn Lauvao and Jonathan Cooper), and with backup guards Tony Bergstrom and Austin Howard sidelined by recent injuries, the Redskins poached Kyle Fuller from the Texans' practice squad.

"Poaching," when teams sign players off other teams practice squads, is where personnel executives like Santos make their mark in NFL history.