NFL Owners Approve Injured Reserve Change, Finally

The NFL owners took a step in the right direction today when they voted to amend the injured reserve rules. As long as the league and the NFL Players Association can agree on the language, the rule should be implemented for the 2012 season.

The difference is minor, but it allows for teams to bring back a player placed on injured reserve, rather than end his season. Unfortunately they can only do this with one player. The language is tricky, so here is an excerpt from Pro Football Talk.

Under the revised rule, a player who is on the roster for Week One and then gets hurt during the season can be placed on injured reserve and designated for return, and then can return to practice six weeks later and play in a game eight weeks later.

Honestly, I never understood the point of the injured reserve in the first place. If it is possible for a player to be brought back later in the year, they should not have to be placed on injured reserve for the team to make their roster spot open. I would much rather see the NFL have more of a DL than an injured reserve. If a player goes on the DL, he must have a minimum recovery time of a certain amount of weeks and miss those games, but should always have the opportunity of returning later in the year if he can.

This new rule change is a step in that direction, and hopefully we get there soon, but I wish this change had come much, much earlier.

 

Jeff is an NFL Featured Columnist for www.RantSports.com.

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