Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton confirmed a long-held suspicion this week about the way NFL teams sometimes handle roster management near the end of preseason. 

There has always been speculation that teams either hide players by not playing them in preseason games so they won’t get claimed by other teams, or that teams try to make certain players look better to increase their trade value. 

Payton was asked about this practice at his press conference on Wednesday, and he confirmed that it does happen.

The Denver head coach then told a story about a player he had when he was with the New Orleans Saints. The player hadn’t appeared in any preseason games and didn’t play throughout the 2009 regular season, but he ended up getting claimed the following year (before the 2010 season) by the Miami Dolphins. The reason? Payton had let then-Dolphins executive vice president Bill Parcells come watch a practice before the Saints played in the Super Bowl in Miami.

“I think that happens,” said Payton when asked about hiding players near the end of preseason. “We had a big tackle in New Orleans, who had not gotten into a preseason game. He was a developmental player, a good player. We were in the Super Bowl that year and we had a Monday practice at the Dolphins facility because it was raining at the start of Super Bowl week. I invited Bill (Parcells), who was the (executive vice) president of the Dolphins. I also invited the late Tony Sparano, the head coach (of the Dolphins), and a few of the people I knew just to come watch our practice.

“We were in the bubble and they just watched the workout, and it was a fun moment. A year later, this (Jeremy) Parnell (the big tackle) gets claimed by the Dolphins. Now, he hadn’t played in any preseason games, and right away I’m mad at the scouts. I’m like, ‘Who’s talking?’ And there was literally no evidence at all (of Parnell playing). A year after that, Bill had retired, and I asked him, ‘Hey, what allowed you guys to claim Parnell?’ And he said, ‘Well, you invited me to practice, and every time you broke the huddle, all I saw was that six-foot-seven tackle.’ And he said, ‘Don’t invite the fox into the henhouse.’ So I learned a lesson. But yeah, occasionally managing the practice squad is challenging.”

Sean Payton’s candid admission is a fun behind the scenes look at how tough roster decisions can be

It’s interesting to hear Payton confirm that this is something that happens. Most coaches would coach-speak their way around a question like that. But the reality is that teams can only keep a certain number of players, and they’re going to have to let a couple of players with potential go (or at least get exposed to waivers while trying to sneak them onto the practice squad).

We’ve seen plenty of players land on a team’s practice squad and spend half the season there, or even multiple seasons, before eventually making an impact. There’s always a chance a team is losing a player who could make a difference in the NFL.

And it’s no surprise that NFL teams go to great lengths to try to hoard as much talent as they can while abiding by the league’s rules.

As for Parnell, he only spent 20 days with the Dolphins before getting re-claimed by the Saints. Parnell ended up playing in the NFL until 2018. He started seven games for the Dallas Cowboys from 2012 to 2014 before starting 57 games for the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2015 to 2018.