We got this question from Detroit Lions fans a lot this week. There’s some concern that with the amount of players the Lions currently have on injured reserve right now, the team could go up against some NFL roster rules ahead of the playoffs.
Each year NFL teams are allowed to bring back eight players from injured reserve and two players from the non-football injury or illness list.
So far the Lions have returned three players from the IR (Brodric Martin, Emmanuel Moseley, and Ifeatu Melifonwu) and one player from the NFI list. (Christian Mahogany)
Looking over the Lions’ current IR list you can see that Alex Anzalone, Kalif Raymond, Ifeatu Melifonwu, Jalen Reeves-Maybin, and Ennis Rakestraw are all expected to return this year. That’s five players right there.
Does that mean that the Lions won’t be able to bring back Aidan Hutchinson, Derrick Barnes, or John Cominsky if they’re able to come back? does that mean that the Lions can not afford to send any more players to IR? Well, it’s sort of a yes and no situation.
The first thing is that the Lions have clinched the playoffs. When a team does that, the NFL grants them two extra IR returns. The Lions actually have 10 now instead of eight. That means they can return all five guys and still have two spots open. Here’s where they can return Hutchinson and maybe one other in the playoffs.
Where the no part comes in is that the Lions are now stuck in a spot where they’re just going to have to have injured players taking up roster spots because they really can’t afford to waste any of the IR spots they have left.
So there’s the answer to that question. The Lions aren’t going to run into any problems unless they create themselves. I’m sure they won’t.