So to clear some things up, let me explain some various injury designations in the NFL
The first type is for guys that are recovering from a football related injury before training camp starts:
1. the PUP ( physically unable to perform) list. Is broken into active and reserve sections… the active is for preseason and the reserve is for the regular season.
This designation is only for guys hurt in football related activities before camp starts. They still have to count against the initial 90 man roster, but they are exempt after the first cutdown…freeing up a roster space. The player may take part in meetings but may not practice or play with the team.
The player may be brought off of the list at any time before the season starts, but cannot go back on once off.
If the player isn’t healthy by the regular season cutdown, he may be kept on the (reserve) PUP list, but then may not be activated for four weeks.
Once a player is activated, they have 21 days of roster exemption before they must either be added to the 53 man roster or returned to the pup list for the remainder of the season.
Players in the last year of their contract who miss the whole season on the PUP list may in some circumstances have their contract carried over to the next season
2. NFI - Non football injury list… this is very similar to the Pup list except its for injuries that happened unrelated to football. The biggest difference is that while the PUP list, the team pays the players their salary while on it. On the NFI list, however, the team doesn’t have to pay them any salary… so two players making 1.8 million a year who both miss 4 games, one on the PUP list and one on the NFI list could see different pay totals. The player on PUP would get his full 1.8 million, while the other player might be docked 400k
3 IR - Injured reserve …. This list is for players injured during camp or the season. This season they revamped the rules again…
As with the other two lists, separate rules govern the preseason and regular season IR lists.
Any player placed on the list in the preseason is lost for the duration of the season.
However any player on the active 53 after the final cut down day can be placed on the IR with the designation to return after missing a minimum of four games. This season a player may receive this designation twice in a season, however teams are limited to only 8 such designations.
The team is responsible to pay game checks to all IR’d players
4. Waived Injured (Reserved Injured). .. this one is a bit tricky… Its for players that are hurt where the team isn’t trying to preserve their rights into next season and wants to use the roster spot on another player, or who simply want to give the player a chance to catch on elsewhere.
Basically, the team’s doctors and the player’s doctors both come up with a prognosis for recovery… the agent and the team negotiate a deal to keep the player on the payroll for the duration of the agreed recovery time, afterwards the player is free to sign wherever they want… they first have to clear waivers, if eligible, so another team can take them on their roster if they really want the injured player on their roster…
The team waiving the player may not resign them for 3 weeks after the agreed recovery time expires… so if the one doctor says it will take six games and the other says ten, the agreement probably ends up 8… after 8 weeks the player is a free agent, but the team that cut them cant resign them until week 12…
The first type is for guys that are recovering from a football related injury before training camp starts:
1. the PUP ( physically unable to perform) list. Is broken into active and reserve sections… the active is for preseason and the reserve is for the regular season.
This designation is only for guys hurt in football related activities before camp starts. They still have to count against the initial 90 man roster, but they are exempt after the first cutdown…freeing up a roster space. The player may take part in meetings but may not practice or play with the team.
The player may be brought off of the list at any time before the season starts, but cannot go back on once off.
If the player isn’t healthy by the regular season cutdown, he may be kept on the (reserve) PUP list, but then may not be activated for four weeks.
Once a player is activated, they have 21 days of roster exemption before they must either be added to the 53 man roster or returned to the pup list for the remainder of the season.
Players in the last year of their contract who miss the whole season on the PUP list may in some circumstances have their contract carried over to the next season
2. NFI - Non football injury list… this is very similar to the Pup list except its for injuries that happened unrelated to football. The biggest difference is that while the PUP list, the team pays the players their salary while on it. On the NFI list, however, the team doesn’t have to pay them any salary… so two players making 1.8 million a year who both miss 4 games, one on the PUP list and one on the NFI list could see different pay totals. The player on PUP would get his full 1.8 million, while the other player might be docked 400k
3 IR - Injured reserve …. This list is for players injured during camp or the season. This season they revamped the rules again…
As with the other two lists, separate rules govern the preseason and regular season IR lists.
Any player placed on the list in the preseason is lost for the duration of the season.
However any player on the active 53 after the final cut down day can be placed on the IR with the designation to return after missing a minimum of four games. This season a player may receive this designation twice in a season, however teams are limited to only 8 such designations.
The team is responsible to pay game checks to all IR’d players
4. Waived Injured (Reserved Injured). .. this one is a bit tricky… Its for players that are hurt where the team isn’t trying to preserve their rights into next season and wants to use the roster spot on another player, or who simply want to give the player a chance to catch on elsewhere.
Basically, the team’s doctors and the player’s doctors both come up with a prognosis for recovery… the agent and the team negotiate a deal to keep the player on the payroll for the duration of the agreed recovery time, afterwards the player is free to sign wherever they want… they first have to clear waivers, if eligible, so another team can take them on their roster if they really want the injured player on their roster…
The team waiving the player may not resign them for 3 weeks after the agreed recovery time expires… so if the one doctor says it will take six games and the other says ten, the agreement probably ends up 8… after 8 weeks the player is a free agent, but the team that cut them cant resign them until week 12…
