The NFL and NFL Players Association agreed to slightly altered injured reserve rules for the 2024 season that will allow teams to “designate for return” an additional two players in the postseason, alongside the already permitted eight players in the regular season, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
If a team hasn’t designated any players for return during the regular season, it could do so for up to 10 players in the postseason. If it has hit its eight-player limit during the regular season, it would only be granted two additional designations in the playoffs. In essence, the limit is 10 total designations between the regular season and postseason, with the cap of eight during the regular season.
Players can be designated for return up to twice in a season, but each instance counts against the team’s total allocations.
When a player is put on injured reserve, they don’t count against a team’s 53-man roster. Previously, if they were put on IR before the season begins, they were lost for the year. However, up to two players can be designated for return on the final roster reduction day, which will count against a team’s eight total return designations during the regular season.
The two postseason designations are new, as are the two allowable designations for return on roster cutdown day.
When players are designated for return, they must remain on injured reserve for at least four games. After a player is cleared to practice, they have a 21-day window to return to the active roster or they will be put on season-ending injured reserve.
The IR list is not the same as the active/physically unable to perform list, or PUP. Players under that designation remain on the active roster during training camp and are able to do any team activities outside of practicing or playing in games.
As teams trim rosters, a player could be moved from the active/PUP list to the reserve/PUP list. Players on reserve/PUP don’t count against the roster but have to sit out the first four games of the season.