The COVID-19 pandemic forced the NFL to make alterations to some of the previous standard operating procedures. One of the more popular changes over that stretch is here to stay for at least another year. According to Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, the league sent out a memo to all 32 clubs on Tuesday making it official that players are once again eligible to come off injured reserve after missing three games rather than eight, which was the case under the previous rule.
Teams are also able to bring back an unlimited amount of players from injured reserve or the non-football injury list. However, this rule only applies to players on the 53-man roster after cutdowns later this summer. Drawing this line in the sand by the NFL is an attempt to prevent teams from stashing players for the future without taking up spots on the current roster. So, any players on the roster after 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Sept. 1 qualify to come off injured reserve after just three weeks.
Of course, the primary goal of this change was to give teams better flexibility amid the pandemic during the 2020 season. Under the former stipulations, clubs were only able to bring two players back from IR after they'd missed eight games. Naturally, this opens things up a bit more for every team.
