OK, just so we're all on the same page, here is the entirety of the IR rule:
Quote:
Each team has a maximum of two (2) injured reserversonName>e sersonName>lots. For a player to be put on IR he must be listed as Questionable, Doubtful or Out on any NFL.com weekly injury reports. Any player placed on IR must remain on IR for a minimum of 4 weeks. By thersonName>e sersonName>tart of the next rookie draft, each franchise must clear IR and have no more than sixteen players on their roster. Once a player is placed on IR, the club can pick up another player but they must go through the free agent channel as with any other pick up.
When a player is placed on IR, 50% of their salary will count against your cap (either active or DS, depending where the player was before the IR move), teams will also receive 1 temporary "contract year". This temporary year may be used at the discretion of the team for signing a replacement, etc. As soon as the injured player is removed from IR, the temporary year is revoked and the team must immediately return its roster to a total of 36 contract years.
The 1st available date to list a player on IR is Monday, August 29, 2005at 12:00am - this will be a flexible date each year that basically commences the day after the 3rd pre-season games end (4th for the few teams that play 5). This will be approximately 7-10 days before the NFL regular season kicks off.
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Since there is no reference to a particular team, and the rule generally states "a player must remain on IR for a minimum of 4 weeks," that has to be the same for all teams. Either when the player is cut he is still only IR eligible for all teams, or once he is cut, he can go back to the active roster for all teams. Now, we'd have a major loophole if we made it where a player cut from the IR had to go on other teams' IR for the 4 weeks, since people could IR players at the end of the season before cutting them to prevent any teams from picking them up. We don't want to open that can of worms, so I'd have to say the rule as written allows teams to rebid a player to their active roster after cutting them from IR.
That said, I think it needs to be changed.