When Is Josh Barrett Eligible for IR?

[mgteich]

I thought the date was September 1st. The intent is for us to avoid waivers. At worst, we can use Ojinnaka's roster exemption and have Josh Barrett on the 53 for Game 1 and then put him on IR.

 

[jmt57]

I seem to recall the date being August 31.

 

[Pats726]

I seem to recall the date being August 31.

I always thought that date coincided with the first cut down date so that young players injured COULD be placed on IR without waivers. I can see the rule being in effect BEFORE that cut down date..so that teams will not stash players on IR so they can bring in OTHER players for the 80.

 

[NE39]

They have to carry him through the cut down to 75 players, which is August 31. They don't have to put him on the 53.

Per Mike Reiss:

In order to prevent teams from stashing young players, NFL rules require that injured players who are not vested veterans must first pass through waivers before being placed on the injured reserve list prior to the 75-man roster cut-down date; this year, that date is Aug. 31. In NFL terms, a vested veteran is a player with four or more credited seasons. Barrett, drafted in 2008, has only two such seasons.

Teams also have the option of moving a player to injured reserve and still having him count against the 80-man roster until the 75-man cut-down date, or keeping the injured player on their active list until that date. In the case of the Broncos, they chose to expose Barrett to waivers.

It is a normal occurrence each preseason in the NFL, and rarely are these waived/injured players claimed by other teams. In August 2009, the Jacksonville Jaguars claimed Don Carey, who was waived/injured by the Cleveland Browns. The Jaguars kept Carey on their 80-man roster until the 75-man cut-down date, at which time they moved him to injured reserve without having to first expose him to waivers.

 

[mgteich]

So, as a practical matter, the team can put Barrett on IR as part of the cuts between September 1st and September 4th. He will not need to affect the decisions revolving around the cut to 53 players, and we will have a potential contributer for the future.