Excellent post!
sdfan
PS OR change the rule. I too dislike the rule as it now reads.
If you break the rule by simply allowing a player on IR whose injury has healed to practice, it is an ethical violation. If he hasn't healed and you force him to practice it is an ethical AND moral violation, imo.The one comment that I would like to add to this mess of a thread: There are many here that have made the mistake of confusing Laws/Rules with Morals/Ethics. Violating the IR Rule is certainly a violation but that doesn't mean that it is a moral or ethical violation. Having IR'd players practice is certainly a rules violation. If Belichick is making players practice when they are clearly injured and thus jeapordizing their careers then it is also an ethical issue.
I see it as an ethical issue because it is against the rule. Someone on this thread had a good idea for a better way to handle IR cases but the rule as it stands does not allow what you propose.However, if he is letting these young players get valuable practice time in after they have fully recovered then it is a benefit to them and I hardly see it as an ethical issue.
Within the confines of your example what you post makes sense. However, there is room for abuse under your system. Let's take Wes Welker as an example. The Chargers had him, and liked him, wanted to keep him as a matter of fact. Let's say they could IR him and allow him to practice with the team and not count against their roster. Obviously they would have done that if it was not against the rules. But would that have been the best thing for Welker? No, imo. He ended up going to Miami and had a great year. If the Chargers had kept him on reserve he would not have had that opportunity.Lets take a for instance. Dieon Branch was IR'd early in his first year. There was absolutely no chance of him being cut given his high draft status. Would it me immoral to have him take some reps after his full recovery to help him transition for the following year? Of course not.
I agree with this completely.What's ridiculous is this is so easily enforceable. Just video every practice (it's done anyway) and do spot checks. I'm sure that would keep teams honest.As for the media coverage, there is no coincedence that ESPN is the only major new source picking this up. It is a speeding ticket at the worst.
sdfan
PS OR change the rule. I too dislike the rule as it now reads.
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