Thread: Help a stupid limey out

Hello Americans and scholars of football rules.

I get confused with who is eligible for PUP, IR and also why can some people not be assigned to the PS.

Help me out please!

PUP -- unable to play/practice at the beginning of training camp.

IR -- anyone's pretty much eligible for IR.

Practice Squad -- players are only eligible for PS during their first three years, and no "accrued seasons" on a team's 53 man roster. An accrued season is either 6 regular season games or more on the active roster, or a full year on the 53 man roster. Players on the practice squad are essentially free agents and can be signed by any other team. Also, they must first be released by the team and clear waivers before being signed to the practice squad.

If it makes you feel any better, I've been an avid NFL fan since I was old enough to talk (maybe longer; it's hazy before that,) and those things confuse the crap out of me, too. Madden's never used his telestrator to explain PS requirements, so when I made that thread on the first cuts, I had to look up the PS rules—only to almost immediately be informed the NFL has CHANGED them again (specifically, teams can have 2 more PS guys this year, though the official story is that's temporary and we'll revert to the old 8 man limit in a couple years.)

In fact, what I read on SB Nation (though Wikipedia says the same; take both for what they're worth) is only CLOSE to what NTL said; it claims players with one (and ONLY one) accrued season can still go to the PS if they were on the 45 man GAME DAY roster <9 games (i.e. ≤½ season.) The bad news is the only way to be 100% sure of most things is to check the actual rulebook, which is pretty long and has multiple minute changes annually; the good news is the 21st Century means it can easily be googled, downloaded as a pdf and Ctrl+Fed for key words.

It was my (perhaps incorrect) understanding teams had right of first refusal on their PS members, so if another team offered one a spot, his current team could keep him by simply calling him up to their 53 man roster (but, since most PS members are only there because the 53 was already full, that would mean releasing someone else.)

Wikipedia further notes the International Practice Squad Program, which does exactly what's on the tin for one extra PS member—or DID: It was created for W Laugh, so ceased to be used when NFL Europe collapsed, but the rule's still on the books and the Lions tried to use it for Kickalicious last year, only to have the NFL say no.

Which, incidentally, was INCREDIBLY STUPID if the NFL's serious about developing a fan base (i.e. revenue stream) outside North America, because Håvard Rugland's worth more positive PR than all the Wembley NFL games ever played, and the International PS Program is a valuable end in itself. But the owners are as clueless about developing European fans as they are desperate to do so; W Laugh proved that. Treating the International PS Program as no more than a means to farm foreign talent for US teams is consistent with that leagues ill-conceived premise. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...ractice-squad/

The IR (injured reserve) list is for players who've suffered major injures that will keep them out for an extended period of time, usually for the remainder of the season. Darnell Dockett, DE who's also the best defensive player for the Cardinals, just suffered such an injury. The Cards can't afford to be short a DE for the entire season, & don't want to cut their best player to make room on their roster for his temporary replacement, so they just moved him from their active roster to IR. I don't know the minimum amount of time a player is required to stay on IR before he's allowed to return to the team, nor do I know the maximum length of time a player can stay on IR without being cut.

As far as I know, all major professional team sports in America allow of this type of accommodations, although MLB & NBA have other options than just the IR list.

Historicaly, the IR has meant "gone for the year." Meaning a player put on IR couldn't play again that year. A couple years ago they began allowing teams to designate ONE player, at the time they are placed on IR, to be designated for return. I believe they can practice with the team after 6 weeks and play after 8 weeks.

Once they have designated a player for return, regardless of whether that player is able to return from the IR, no other players can be designated for return. They only get to do this with one player each year.

Essentially, the designate for return makes it kind of like a 60 day DL where normally IR is done for the year.