And each August NFL teams invite walk-ons and free agents to training camp alongside the veterans returning from last years squad to, as head coach Brian Billick puts it, claw their way onto the team. More than 80 players take the field at the Ravens training camp at McDaniel College in Westminster for three weeks of sometimes twice-daily practices and a handful of preseason games, hoping to make the cut for the 53 spots on the Ravens official roster. Most of those cut go home, but eight would-be pro football players who show potential during training camp are selected by coaches to stick around and block and tackle and catch with the first- and second-stringers during regular-season practices. Teams pay these practice-squad players $4,700 a week for a maximum of 17 weeks work, but more important than the money for these men is the chance they get to run plays and hustle week in and week out before the coaches eyes. Sometimes that means another shot at getting on the team for real.