Is there ANY loophole by which a player escapes IR?

[JSn]

I'm just wondering if there are ANY circumstances in which a player on IR can get back on the field in that same season, or if it's ever been done?

Also, how closely does the league watch the IR list? Does the injury REALLY have to be serious or do they just have to NOT practice with the team?

 

[BPF]

I'm just wondering if there are ANY circumstances in which a player on IR can get back on the field in that same season, or if it's ever been done?

Also, how closely does the league watch the IR list? Does the injury REALLY have to be serious or do they just have to NOT practice with the team?

Yes there is, if the player is waived-injured after a settlement another team can pick him up when healthy.

 

[pats1]

Yes there is, if the player is waived-injured after a settlement another team can pick him up when healthy.

Right, but that provision isn't available for vested veterans.

A team may place a player on "Minor IR," which knocks him out for 4 weeks, after which time he becomes a free agent but cannot sign with his old team.

 

[JSn]

Yes there is, if the player is waived-injured after a settlement another team can pick him up when healthy.

Can the same team pick him up? I'm assuming no because that would be blatant flouterizing* of NFL conventions?


*yep, I totally made that word up.

 

[JSn]

Right, but that provision isn't available for vested veterans.

A team may place a player on "Minor IR," which knocks him out for 4 weeks, after which time he becomes a free agent but cannot sign with his old team.

Is there a statute of limitations on how long they have to wait? Are evsted veterans on IR out for season league-wide no matter what?

 

[pats1]

Is there a statute of limitations on how long they have to wait? Are evsted veterans on IR out for season league-wide no matter what?

Well teams can release players from IR, usually with an injury settlement. I'm not sure if they can re-sign them after that though; I can't remember it being done recently.

The only guys I can remember going on Minor IR recently are Teddy Lehman this year, who then got an injury settlement and was waived, Ian Scott (last year?), and Troy Vincent (two years ago?).

EDIT: I believe Minor IR actually stipulates the player's release whenever he is healthy, which may or may not be 4 weeks.

 

[Pats726]

Right, but that provision isn't available for vested veterans.

A team may place a player on "Minor IR," which knocks him out for 4 weeks, after which time he becomes a free agent but cannot sign with his old team.

Never heard of this "Minor IR"....has that been used at all??? I know you'd have the details.(OK THANK you...in the interim..this was answered..GREAT!!) As far as injury settlements go..I wonder how DL Stubblefield was able to get a settlement in 04 as he was IRed in TC and let go via an injury settlement in Oct? Just curious...
Years ago, I am talking in the 80s early 90s..at one time there was a limit on IRed players....only x amount..(which disappeared for good..) and a way that an IRed player could get back...that he would have to go through waivers... The Patriots had a player who they tried to bring back in Dec...early 90s and of course, was claimed. It was a dumb move, but I remember that it happened. (That rule also is gone.)

 

[BPF]

Well teams can release players from IR, usually with an injury settlement. I'm not sure if they can re-sign them after that though; I can't remember it being done recently.

The only guys I can remember going on Minor IR recently are Teddy Lehman this year, who then got an injury settlement and was waived, Ian Scott (last year?), and Troy Vincent (two years ago?).

EDIT: I believe Minor IR actually stipulates the player's release whenever he is healthy, which may or may not be 4 weeks.

I'm pretty sure they did away with the 4 games rule. I remember there used to be two IR lists, one for pre-season and one for the reg season and the owners changed it one.

 

[DaBruinz]

Right, but that provision isn't available for vested veterans.

A team may place a player on "Minor IR," which knocks him out for 4 weeks, after which time he becomes a free agent but cannot sign with his old team.

How did the Pats do that with Larry Centers? THey gave him an injury settlement and he was definitely a vested veteran

 

[Pats726]

How did the Pats do that with Larry Centers? THey gave him an injury settlement and he was definitely a vested veteran

He was never on IR....they have done that with a number of players...I wonder if that is bending the rules??

 

[pats1]

He was never on IR....they have done that with a number of players...I wonder if that is bending the rules??

Right, they released him directly with an injury settlement. That's different than being IR'd then released with an injury settlement.

 

[Pats726]

Right, they released him directly with an injury settlement. That's different than being IR'd then released with an injury settlement.

Absolutely...no IR..although when Centers was released..there wa sno mention of said settlement...and he returned in 2 months...same with McCrary in 03..Chad Brown...

 

[spacecrime]

Right, they released him directly with an injury settlement. That's different than being IR'd then released with an injury settlement.

But to answer the original question, an injury settlement is a loophole to avoid losing a player to IR for the season.

You can lose him for a few weeks and get him back if he gets hurt.

 

[Pats726]

But to answer the original question, an injury settlement is a loophole to avoid losing a player to IR for the season.

You can lose him for a few weeks and get him back if he gets hurt.

No...he can't come back to the same team...once IRed by that team...he can not return. There are ways to do that..if it's not a serious injury AND if the player basically agrees...some may not..so it's a negotiation that one may not hear about...may variables.

 

[spacecrime]

No...he can't come back to the same team...once IRed by that team...he can not return. There are ways to do that..if it's not a serious injury AND if the player basically agrees...some may not..so it's a negotiation that one may not hear about...may variables.

Exactly. So when a player gets hurt and you don't want to lose him for the rest of tehe year, the loophole around putting him on IR and losing him for the year is to reach an injury settlement rather than put him on IR. Then you CAN get him back the same year on the same team. (I believe there is a six-week wait or something like that.)

 

[pats1]

Absolutely...no IR..although when Centers was released..there wa sno mention of said settlement...and he returned in 2 months...same with McCrary in 03..Chad Brown...

Right, but the official transaction record list it as injury settlement/knee.