Redskins Insider: Rule Changes And Points Of Emphasis

[drew54]

Originally Posted by Beemnseven

Of all the rule changes they come up with every year, I can't figure out why the league won't address the ridiculous roster restrictions for players on injured reserve.

Think back to 2005 with David Patten -- he got nicked up pretty bad, wasn't going to be around for like 8 weeks or so, and since they couldn't bring a guy on the roster to replace him for fear of violating the 53 man roster rule, they had to put him on injured reserve (meaning he couldn't play anymore that year no matter what). So later on, Patten's injury heals up, he would otherwise have been ready to go, but thanks to that arcane rule, we can't bring him back, and we're stuck with guys like Jimmy Farris and Taylor Jacobs in the second wideout spot.

With injuries more and more becoming the deciding factor in what makes or breaks a team for the whole season, you'd think the NFL would loosen the restrictions and allow for teams to better prepare for season-ending injuries.

Nope. Instead we get the "spike" rule.

There should be a DL rule like in Baseball. But a guy on the 15 Day or 60 day DL.