PScottman
In the Starting Line-Up
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2014
- Messages
- 3,454
- Reaction score
- 4,770
Is there a book on what injury "requires" IR?injury not actually requiring IR
The answer is "no", because here's the verbiage from the rule book: "not immediately available for participation with a club". So exactly what injury meets that criteria? Let's take a shoulder strain. What muscle group is strained? How badly? What's the typical rehab time versus atypical (as every rehab is different)?
Or maybe we look at the Larry Izzo example provided, a high ankle sprain - per the Jacksonville Orthopedic Institute it can be anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months...but WAIT A MINUTE Tom Brady had a high ankle sprain before his first Super Bowl...How exactly did he play if it "requires" (your words not mine) IR?
There is significant ability to use IR as a shadow roster to protect promising players - and we agree all teams use it. It doesn't mean there is chicanery of ZERO injuries, it means minor injuries can be utilized because per the rules the member is "not immediately available for participation with a club".
It could be a very mild roll of the ankle which if a star player and before a Super Bowl would tape the crap out of and probably use some cortisone-type shot to alleviate pain whereas if it's a first or second year player who isn't going to play much anyway, but you don't want to lose you'll make them do ALL rehab work to get it to 100% while assigned to IR.
This is not a black and white rule. It is far from it. If it were the rule book would spell out how a panel of independent league doctors "double check" injuries, what injuries were and were not "IR-able" and at what degree; in that case this would start being a pretty thick rule book - what's the ruling on minor otitis externa versus major xerosis? Either of them "require" IR?