NFL owners are scheduled to vote on rules changes for the 2020 NFL season next week.
Among the newly proposed changes are amendments to the injured reserve rules that would expand the pool of players who are eligible to return from injured reserve. Those changes would have provided the Chiefs with some beneficial options had they been in place during the 2019 season. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer laid out how the IR rules could change on Twitter.
First, the NFL would expand the number of players allowed to return from IR from two players to three players. That’s a welcomed expansion of the current system, which will hopefully lead to all players being allowed to return from injured reserve in the not-too-distant future.
The next change is to the players eligible to return from injured reserve. Previously, players had to be on the 53-man roster in order to be eligible to return from injured reserve. If this new system were approved, players that are placed on injured reserve ahead of 53-man roster cuts would be eligible to return during the season.
If you’ll recall, Chiefs backup QB Chad Henne suffered an ankle injury during the 2019 preseason. The team had to carry Henne on the 53-man roster before placing him on injured reserve in 2019. They did so to ensure he could return later that season, which he ultimately did in early November.
Then there were players like Breeland Speaks, John Lovett and Felton Davis. Those three were placed on injured reserve ahead of 53-man roster cuts but were unable to return during the season because of the current rules in place.
Under the newly proposed changes, the Chiefs would have been able to put Henne on the injured reserve list right away with no penalty. Also if Speaks, Lovett and Davis were deemed healthy at any point during the 2019 season, they would now be among the players eligible to return from IR.
If these changes do pass it is certainly progress for the NFL. Right now it feels almost as if teams and players are being punished when an injury occurs. Under the new system it’d provide more opportunities for teams to have players play the game they signed up to play, no matter if they suffer an untimely injury.
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