Unfortunately, injuries are part of the NFL season. Every year, key players get sidelined with myriad injuries. Some are minor, while others take weeks or months to heal. When a player is going to be out for a while, that’s where the NFL’s injured reserve (IR) rules come into play. Let’s detail the league’s injured reserve rules, how many games a player must miss if they are put on IR, and more.
Explaining the NFL Injured Reserve (IR) Rules
As previously mentioned, IR stands for injured reserve. A player is added to IR if they are dealing with a football-related injury and will miss a significant period of time.
Players on the list don’t count against the active roster, meaning teams can sign temporary replacements without going over the maximum 53 players.
If a player is placed on the IR list prior to the start of the season, their season is over. If they are placed on the list during the season, they must miss a minimum of four games before they can return.
Once a player is healthy enough to practice, they must be designated for a return. This designation clears the player to resume practice and triggers a 21-day window during which the team must either activate the player onto the 53-man roster or place them on season-ending injured reserve.
Teams can designate up to eight players for return from injured reserve during the season. However, each player can be designated for return only twice.
How Does the IR List Differ From the PUP List?
The IR and PUP lists are quite similar, with PUP standing for physically unable to perform. The lists enable teams to manage their rosters, but they have vastly different rules.
The PUP list is a roster designation that NFL teams use for players who were injured before training camp began.
When a player is injured and placed on the PUP list at the start of training camp, he is put on the active/PUP list. He counts against the team’s 90-man roster and while he can participate in meetings, he is not allowed to practice. If the player practices — even once — during training camp, he must leave the PUP list and be activated to the club’s roster.
The vast majority of players on the active/PUP list will be removed and activated before training camp ends. However, if a player is still injured by the time the regular season arrives, he is transferred to the reserve/PUP list. Once a player is placed on the reserve/PUP list, he must miss at least the first four games of the regular season. He will not count against his team’s 53-man roster during this time.
After the player’s four-game absence, the player has a five-week window to begin practicing. Once he begins practicing, the team has a three-week window to place him on the 53-man roster. If the player cannot return to practice or returns to practice but isn’t healthy enough to return to the active roster by the time those deadlines pass, he must stay on the PUP list for the rest of the season.
The main difference is that the PUP list is for players who were injured coming into training camp. A player can go on the PUP list during training camp and then return for the start of the season, whereas placing a player on IR during the summer ends their season.