Howie knows how to stretch the 53. You can have 13 players on the practice squad and 6 of them can be veterans, while the rest have to be rookies or 2nd year players. You can elevate a player from the practice squad to the game day roster 3 times without having to release someone from your 53. You can elevate 2 players per a week.

Howie did this last year with both Siposs and Covey and it looks like he is going to do it again this year.