The Miami Dolphins parted with a long list of players Tuesday, but they’ll hope to get plenty of them back when they put together their practice squad.

But what is a practice squad?

While the NFL allows each team to carry 53 players on its active roster (with a maximum of 48 available on game days), clubs are also able to keep several players who practice with the team all week but can’t play in games … or at least not much.

Here’s how it works:

• Each team can carry as many as 16 players on its practice squad.
• 10 of those players have to be rookies or second-year players. There’s no eligibility restrictions for the other six players.
• Teams can use a “standard elevation” to make as many as two practice squad players available to play in a regular season game without moving them to the active roster. However, the elevation can only be used a maximum of three times on a single player. To make a player available for a fourth regular season game, he would need to be moved to the active roster.
• Team can sign players from another team’s practice squad, but must sign them directly to their active roster and can’t move them laterally to the practice squad.

Rookies and second-year players will earn a minimum of $12,500 for every week they spend on a practice squad. The minimum for veterans with at least three years of experience is $16,800 per week with the maximum salary set at $21,300 per week.