Former Homewood High School star Ameer Abdullah’s bid to play in an 11th NFL season was revived on Monday, when the Indianapolis Colts signed the running back for their practice squad.
Abdullah joined the San Francisco 49ers in training camp on July 31 as a free-agent signing. But he sustained a rib injury in the 49ers’ 30-9 loss to the Denver Broncos as he ran for 20 yards on four carries and returned a kickoff 22 yards in their preseason opener and went to injured reserve on Aug. 11. On Aug. 19, San Francisco waived Abdullah with an injury settlement.
Each NFL team can have a practice squad of 16 players. Members of the practice squad do everything the players on the active roster do except play in games. But two practice-squad members can be elevated to active status for each game, although no player can be elevated from the practice squad more than three times in a season.
For the Raiders in 2024, Abdullah ran for 311 yards and two touchdowns on 66 carries, caught 40 passes for 261 yards and three touchdowns and returned 26 kickoffs for a 20.9-yard average.
In his senior season at Homewood, Abdullah ran for 1,800 yards and 24 touchdowns, had 515 receiving yards and returned four punts for touchdowns in 2010. In 2014 at Nebraska, Abdullah was a finalist for the Doak Walker Award, the Paul Hornung Award and the Wuerffel Trophy as he became the first player in school history to record three consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons.
A second-round draft choice of the Detroit Lions in 2015, Abdullah led the NFL in kickoff-return yards as a rookie and was the team’s top ball-carrier in two of his first three seasons.
During his NFL career, Abdullah has run for 1,994 yards and eight touchdowns on 494 carries, caught 203 passes for 1,468 yards and eight touchdowns, returned 26 punts for a 9.1-yard average and run back 151 kickoffs for a 25.1-yard average.
To create a roster spot for Abdullah, the Colts released running back Khalil Herbert, a four-year NFL veteran.
The Indianapolis Colts today signed running back Ameer Abdullah to the practice squad and released running back Khalil Herbert from the practice squad.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at@AMarkG1.
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