Not sure if NFL Europe still exists.

Also, each NFL team has a practice squad which allows them to keep additional players under contract as a sort of minor league.

I never knew about the practice squad.

those games. Me and the 5 other people who tuned in.

I would assume they have release clauses or their contracts can be bought out if they get an opportunity with an NFL team.

Players on the NFL practice squads are not eligible for games, but practice with the team. I know the Patriots often move players on and off the practice team during the season, both promoting them and releasing them according to the team's needs due to injuries. Once a player is dropped another team often picks them up pretty quickly.

Plenty of guys came back from the CFL. Most notably Warren Moon and Doug Flutie.

Kurt Warner played in both the Arena league and NFL Europe.

So, that does seem to be a repository for undrafted guys that turned out to be better than the scouts thought.

It's really one of the reasons i'm not much of a college football fan. Even in the CFL, the players were the 2nd to 5th best guy on their college team.

I'd rather watch a CFL game than a college game almost any day.