IR rule change discussion for 2022

[Tford]

Quote

3.5 Injured Reserve

3.5.1 Limits
Each team has an unlimited number of Injured Reserve slots. Once a player is placed on Injured Reserve he must remain there for the remainder of that season unless dropped to the waiver pool. That player cannot be returned to the active roster during the current season. Once a player is placed on IR, the club can pick up another player but they must go through the Free Agent channel as with any other pick up. (This essentially allows the signing of another player with that one contract year and active slot.)

3.5.2 Dropping IR Players
Any player dropped from IR falls under wavier rules at the point he is dropped (one contract year continues to count against the team that dropped him.) If an IR player is dropped to the wavier wire, passes 1 week of waivers, and is then reacquired by the dropping owner, that player must be returned to the IR.

3.5.3 Eligibility
A player qualifies for the IR by being placed on a NFL PUP list or on the IR officially by an NFL team. 

3.5.4 Contract Implications
When placed on IR, a contract (salary) adjustment is made (on MFL) to reduce the teams overall years by one. All future contract years will continue to count against the franchise's contract ceiling. After contracts are reduced for all active roster players on 2/15, all players on IR will become part of the active roster. All salary/contract adjustments will be cleared at this time as well (on MFL).

 

I wanted to throw this out there before everyone leaves for the offseason as it became an issue this year.

 

The current rulebook as it pertains to Injured Reserve is quoted above. This year, I failed as player commissioner to keep track of this correctly which led to a handful of players being reactivated when they were assigned as IR-designated to return by their respective NFL teams. The way I see it is that we need to sort out two specific issues; what to do with IR-designated to return players and what to do with COVID-IR players.

 

Here are a couple options that I am throwing out there for potential changes, please feel free to use this thread to discuss/debate or even throw out your own options. I will coordinate the rule change vote where the timing is appropriate.

 

1) Rules stay the same, once players are demoted in MFL, they remain there regardless of NFL movement. IR movement becomes locked to commissioners only to prevent reactivation. COVID-IR does not allow access to the IR slot. 

 

2) Our rules mimic NFL rules. As long as a player has the (I) designation in MFL, they are allowed to be on the IR. However, once that player is activated by their NFL team, they must also be reactivated by their fantasy team and they lose their one year credit. No picking and choosing who to reactivate. COVID-IR is acceptable for demotion as well.

 

3) Limited reactivation. Basically option 1) but with a limited amount of players you can designate to return similar to 2019 NFL. Outside of say 2 or 3 players, anyone demoted to IR remains there. COVID-IR does not allow access to the IR slot.

 

 

My personal preference is option 2 or 3 as the NFL has become fairly cryptic when it comes to how long players are out for and whether their IR stint will be for the year. It used to be that if a player got sent to IR, they were done. You could easily write them off for the year. Not so much anymore. Even Cam Akers might be back after an Achilles tear in the offseason. Option 3 is the simplest IMO. It gives you the opportunity to get those 2 or 3 impact players back later in the year without making weekly tracking of the IR spot difficult.

 

That said, I'm interested in hearing some discussion. Hope all of you had a great Christmas and are slowly getting over your New Year's hangovers.

 

[flemingd]

#3 by a long shot.  We can't require owners to re-activate a guy they may have made alternative plans for when they have no control over what the NFL team is doing and worse we get no trustworthy info until the moment it happens.  If Winston is "out for the year" and go trade for a QB I may need the credit year to make room for the new guy.  If NOS activates him out of the blue I now don't have cap room for him and that's not fair to the owners.  Look at Cam Akers, that guy tore his Achilles and was "done for the year", there was no way to expect he'd be back from that injury yet here we are and that owner might now have to create roster and cap space for the guy.  Worse yet the guy may suck because the team brought him back too soon.

 

Owners should have full control over their own decisions.

[terminader55]

I honestly thought it used to be let's say a guy gets reactivated from IR we would have a week to reactivate to our current roster or we could leave him there for the entire year once the one week deadline had passed to make our decision. But out of those options I'd go with 3 for sure

[darin3]

I'm fine with #3.

[Allen Stephey]

I would be fine with #3 as well.

[JimboTonka]

I'll try out 3.

[Pope Flick]

Tres

[flemingd]

For the record I wasn't blaming TFord for anything nor was I trying to make waves, it just really concerns me taking control of fantasy teams away from owners.

[Tford]

10 minutes ago, flemingd said:

For the record I wasn't blaming TFord for anything nor was I trying to make waves, it just really concerns me taking control of fantasy teams away from owners.

 

No blame taken but rereading my first vote thread, I could have done better explaining things.