Packers: Injured reserve rules to remain the same from last season

Due to the pandemic, last season there were some significant changes to the injured reserve rules, something the Green Bay Packers were able to take advantage of.

The rules will remain in place this season, too.

According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, teams will be able to bring back an unlimited number of players from injured reserve. Also like last season, players will only have to miss three games if they’re placed on IR, down from eight previously.

This helped the Packers last season.

Inside linebacker Kamal Martin, wide receiver Allen Lazard, inside linebacker Christian Kirksey, wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown, and center Corey Linsley were all placed on injured reserve at some point in the season and then designated to return later on.

In previous years, the Packers wouldn’t have been able to make so many of those moves.

It gives teams a little more flexibility when it comes to the roster. If a player gets injured and could miss around a month of action, they are able to place them on injured reserve and bring them back later in the season. It’s a smart move by the NFL to keep this rule in place for the 2021 season.

It’s important to add, as Pelissero noted, that players need to be on the 53-man roster to be eligible to return after three games. So this means if the Packers decide to place a player on injured reserve before trimming their roster down to 53, the injured player is done for the season.

This would only be done if a player suffered an injury that would definitely end their season such as a torn ACL.

So if the Packers have a player who gets injured in the preseason but won’t be out for too long, an option would be to include them in the 53-man roster, then place them on IR to be eligible to return a few weeks later.