The release on the new rules describe how this will work.
1. Only players with a "major injury" who are placed on Reserve/Injured after 4:00 p.m., New York time, on Tuesday, September 4, or thereafter during the season, will be eligible to be reactivated at a later time.
2. A "major injury" is defined as an injury that renders the player unable to practice or play football for at least six weeks (42 calendar days) from the date of injury.
3. Each team may reactivate only one player placed on Reserve/Injured after 4:00 p.m., New York time, on Tuesday, September 4. That player must be "designated for return" at the time the club places him on Reserve/Injured, and such designation shall appear on that day's Personnel Notice.
4. Such player is eligible to return to practice if he has been on Reserve/Injured for at least six weeks from the date he is placed on Reserve. He is eligible to return to the Active List if he has been on Reserve/Injured for at least eight weeks from the date he is placed on Reserve.
The part about designating a player for a return at the time he is placed on IR should be emphasized; you can't just wait and see on a player.
Good info here.My LB, Desmond Bishop, was just put on IR a few days ago. I was wondering if he'd be coming back early. According to your rules posted above he's not since 1) he wasn't "designated for return" and 2) he was put on the IR before Sept 4th. So he won't be back. Tell me if I'm missing something here.
I did hear something that for this year there would be an exception to this Sept 4th rule for any guy already placed on IR because the teams did not know at that time this rule was going to be passed.So it sounds like GB will still have the option but I think they would maybe need to have Bishop count as part of the 53 man roster then "designated for return".
http://espn.go.com/b...uld-be-eligible
The NFL will indeed have a new rule that allows one player from each team to be activated from injured reserve during the season, provided he is first part of the team's initial 53-man roster. But as part of its formal press release announcing the move, the league said there will be a one-time exception in 2012 for players who have already been placed on injured reserve this summer.
If a team wants one of those players to be eligible for in-season activation, he can be added back to the 53-man roster by Friday. That player could then be returned to injured reserve after next Tuesday to receive the designation that allows him to be activated later. (Don't bother trying to diagram that sentence.)
Sooooo, that means two NFC North players who already are on injured reserve could in fact be eligible to play later this season -- if their teams add them back to the active roster by Friday. That list includes Green Bay Packers linebacker Desmond Bishop (hamstring) and Chicago Bears safety Brandon Hardin (neck).