How are you guys handling the new "Designated for Return" IR s (1 Viewer)

[corpcow]

I'm in 3 primary leagues - 16 team, contract-based dynasty leagues. All three provide some IR status - for a player actually placed on NFL IR, you can move to our league IR which means you're still on the hook for the salary/years but you free up a roster spot.

As you can imagine, the new rules have caused quite the controversy, and a couple of schools of thought.

1) Some believe that if the player is reactivated, you have to move back to your active roster... but we don't define any deadlines around that, and we also have penalties for dropping players so that could be messy.

2) Others believe that the player should still be IR eligible for our purposes, but once you're on there you can't reactivate. This is because you're effectively giving an extra roster spot to an injured player, something not all teams will get based on how the NFL team decides to handle a major injury.

3) Yet others (myself included) feel that an IR/Designated for Return player shouldn't be eligible for IR at all since it's actually sort of similar (mechanically) to PUP list.

How are you guys handling this? Are you adding anything now, waiting to see how it plays out, etc?

 

[The Big Guy]

We have this discussion coming tomorrow night at our draft, but I am leaning towards the ability to reactive the player if the team does. Quite frankly, I am thinking that the owner MUST reactivate the player (dropping someone in the process) if the respective NFL team does reactivate someone. I figure that we don't allow someone to go and hide a guy on IR unless he is on the official IR list, so why should he get the advantage of having someone in the IR spot if that player returns.

 

[TheMaddog]

I think I'm taking the approach that you have the option to IR the player (for fantasy purposes) when ever the player is on the IR. For our league no player will come off the IR (so its effectively season ending for our fantasy). This penalizes teams with good players that get hurt with options of returning, however, realistically missing over half the season (min 8weeks until reactivated) shouuld render that player pretty useless in my opinion.

It will be something we'll need to discuss next year..but caught us like you off guard this year.

 

[Joe Summer]

In my main league, we've decided not to add an "IR" spot. Why? Because there are only going to be 2-3 relevant players who get to take advantage of this rule, and it didn't seem fair to allow 3 fantasy teams to get a "free" player, while the other 9 teams get nothing. (It's not like baseball or basketball, where there are routinely 10+ decent players on the injured list.)

So, if you want to take a flyer on a player who may (or may not) come back from injury in mid-season, you will have to use a regular roster spot for him.

 

[CalBear]

Of course there's no one answer here, but my take would be that if the guy is on an active NFL roster, he can't be on your league's IR. So if you do allow teams to put a guy on IR, he has to come back on the active roster if he comes back active in the NFL. If they don't want the penalty of having to drop someone when he comes back, well, they don't need to put him on IR.

I think you probably need to let people use the IR for "designated for return" players, because it's likely that the NFL will use the status for some players they don't really intend to bring back, or who realistically might not make it back (Jahvid Best last year). I think the point of having an IR in a dynasty league is to give teams the flexibility to stash away a good player without burning a roster spot; with the new concussion rules, there may be some top-notch players who get early injuries without a clear indication of when they'll come back.

 

[J Giles Band]

Same dilemma for our keeper/contract league. We never change our rules on the fly so our IR rule will remain the same this year (IR is season ending). That said, my prevailing thought for our league is that since we only allow 1 IR spot, it doesn't make sense to use the designated return option. We have a PUP spot which can be used instead.

For leagues with multiple IR spots or which allow all players who are actually on the IR to be placed on the IR, I don't see why you wouldn't incorporate the new rule. And for me, if the fantasy owner doesn't have another player they wish to release when the player comes off the IR, they should have to release the player returning from the IR. The idea of the IR is to protect an injured player's roster spot without weighing down a team's roster during the current season. But in so doing the team shouldn't gain the advantage of stashing an active player.

Complicated issue for leagues this year...

 

[Topes]

I don't participate in any leagues that have IR slots anymore.

Over the years, have been a proponent of scrapping the slot. In many leagues, the slot is scrapped and another roster spot is added.

That said, it's a complicated issue for fantasy leagues that DO still have IR, most especially for those that require a player be on NFL IR (near certainly out for season, except in rare case where cut and signed by other team and then activated).

I'm thinking the best way is to deem return-eligible players not eligible for fantasy IR.

 

[strong]

For our old rule, players only on the NFL IR were eligible for one of two IR spots.

We just passed a new rule stating that players no longer on the NFL IR are ineligible to remain on the league IR. Player adds and trades are prohibited until the team corrects their roster. Failing to correct the roster through a weekend of games constitutes an "illegal lineup," which carries with it a set of escalating (minor) penalties of $ fines and rookie draft picks.

 

[Lascelle]

Just a quick question on this issue for the Shark Pool... have any players been "designated for return" from the IR APART from Vincent Brown of the Chargers and Visanthe Shiancoe of the Patriots?

We need a master list to track these.

 

[Joe Summer]

Just a quick question on this issue for the Shark Pool... have any players been "designated for return" from the IR APART from Vincent Brown of the Chargers and Visanthe Shiancoe of the Patriots?We need a master list to track these.

Buffalo CB Ron BrooksCincinnati C Kyle Cook

 

[lsutigers]

25 player dynasty/keeper league.

IR is allowed to lessen the blow of inseason injuries.

IR/Designated to Return is like PUP/suspended and does not qualify. Must keep him on the roster or drop him and pick him up later.

 

[Lascelle]

Just a quick question on this issue for the Shark Pool... have any players been "designated for return" from the IR APART from Vincent Brown of the Chargers and Visanthe Shiancoe of the Patriots?

We need a master list to track these.

Buffalo CB Ron BrooksCincinnati C Kyle Cook

I've got one more to add to the list. Surprised we're seeing so many before the season even starts.DESIGNATED FOR RETURN/RECALL PLAYERS

Buffalo DB Ron Brooks

Cincinnati C Kyle Cook

New England TE Visanthe Shiancoe

Pittsburgh G David DeCastro

San Diego WR Vincent Brown

 

[Lascelle]

Adding another name to the list...

DESIGNATED FOR RETURN/RECALL PLAYERS

Buffalo DB Ron Brooks

Cincinnati C Kyle Cook

New England TE Visanthe Shiancoe

Pittsburgh G David DeCastro

San Diego WR Vincent Brown

Washington C Nick Sundberg

Any others I'm missing?

 

[Lascelle]

Adding another name to the list...

DESIGNATED FOR RETURN/RECALL PLAYERS

* OFFENSE - MAY BE STASH-WORTHY IN ALL LEAGUES *

New England TE Visanthe Shiancoe

San Diego WR Vincent Brown

* DEFENSE - MAY BE STASH-WORTHY IN IDP LEAGUES *

Buffalo CB Ron Brooks

Oakland CB Ronald Bartell

* OFFENSIVE LINE - ONLY NOTABLE SO AS TO NOT EXPECT OTHER RETURN/RECALL PLAYERS ON THESE TEAMS *

Cincinnati C Kyle Cook

Pittsburgh G David DeCastro

Washington C Nick Sundberg

Any others I'm missing?

 

[Lascelle]

Adding another name to the list...

DESIGNATED FOR RETURN/RECALL PLAYERS

* OFFENSE - MAY BE STASH-WORTHY IN ALL LEAGUES *

Arizona RB Beanie Wells

New England TE Visanthe Shiancoe

San Diego WR Vincent Brown

* DEFENSE - MAY BE STASH-WORTHY IN IDP LEAGUES *

Buffalo CB Ron Brooks

Oakland CB Ronald Bartell

* OFFENSIVE LINE - ONLY NOTABLE SO AS TO NOT EXPECT OTHER RETURN/RECALL PLAYERS ON THESE TEAMS *

Cincinnati C Kyle Cook

Pittsburgh G David DeCastro

Washington C Nick Sundberg

Any others I'm missing?

 

[CokeZero]

35-man, Dynasty/IDP league. Once his NFL team activates him, I will activate him from the IR. Cut and dried simple solution for our league.

 

[Lascelle]

Adding another name to the list...

DESIGNATED FOR RETURN/RECALL PLAYERS

* OFFENSE - MAY BE STASH-WORTHY IN ALL LEAGUES *

Arizona RB Beanie Wells

Green Bay RB Cedric Benson

New England TE Visanthe Shiancoe

San Diego WR Vincent Brown

* DEFENSE - MAY BE STASH-WORTHY IN IDP LEAGUES *

Buffalo CB Ron Brooks

Oakland CB Ronald Bartell

* OFFENSIVE LINE - ONLY NOTABLE SO AS TO NOT EXPECT OTHER RETURN/RECALL PLAYERS ON THESE TEAMS *

Cincinnati C Kyle Cook

Pittsburgh G David DeCastro

Washington C Nick Sundberg

Any others I'm missing?

 

[Joe Summer]

Might want to add the dates they were added and the dates they're eligible for return.

 

[Sea Duck]

Add:

Cleveland WR Jordan Norwood (eligible to return Week 14)

 

[Coach3K]

For those that use Yahoo, here's a blurb from their rules on the IR slot, if you have that for your league:

Note: Once on the IR, a player may stay there for the entire season, even if they return to real-life action. However, once a player comes off the real-life IR, you will not be able to complete any transactions that involve adding a player to your team until you remove them from your team's IR.

We've had an IR slot in our Keeper league for about 3 years now. I admit I didn't really know how Yahoo would handle things with the new designation, but I stashed Brown a few weeks ago, so figured it's about time to figure out what's going to happen in the next few weeks.Looks like you can effectively maintain an extra roster spot, if you want to give up the ability to pick up FA's/Waiver players after that person returns.

 

[Sinn Fein]

We are following the NFL designation - sort-of. We have an IR slot, for players put on the NFL IR list. We charge a fee for every player you put on the list, and the player must be on your roster at the time the NFL team puts him on the IR. This year we are allowing teams to bring back any player placed on IR - who is re-instated by their NFL team, but not requiring teams to bring them back. The fee is paid when placed on IR, and is non-refundable.

 

[BigJim®]

Our league did not want to force players to be reactivated, but to instead make it possible to reactivate within a reasonable timeframe. We ended up supplementing out IR rules with the following:

Each League team will be allowed, one time per season, to reactivate a previously designated injured reserve player if such player has been reactivated from injured reserve by his NFL team during the season. The League team owner must, within 7 days of NFL reactivation, post to the League message board indicating this intent, naming a roster drop (if necessary to remain within roster limits). Timing will be based upon the NFL team's official transaction report. If this requirement is not met, the player will remain statused as injured reserve for the remainder of the current League season, regardless of his active NFL status.

 

[solorca]

Our league put a rule in place where if they go on IR, you can't activate them for 180 days. If you want then on your team, you have to keep them on the active roster.

The problem with this is that someone can skirt the rule by just dropping then adding them again.

Yeah, it definitely needs work. I tried to get a rule in place before the season started, but my league didn't seem to understand how it worked and voted it down.

 

[renesauz]

Not sure why this is complicated.

The only change is that a player must be reactivated from IR if he goes back to an active status with his NFL team. Set a reasonable deadline for that, with a reasonable penalty.

Since this only matters in season, and everyone should be checking in at least weekly....a 1 week deadline makes sense. The penalty should be whatever penalties are already in place for an illegal roster (usually...a freezing of trading and waiver privelages, in some maybe automatic zeros for a score until corrected).

This is an easy problem and really not a big deal.

 

[cstu]

Our league put a rule in place where if they go on IR, you can't activate them for 180 days. If you want then on your team, you have to keep them on the active roster.

The problem with this is that someone can skirt the rule by just dropping then adding them again.

Yeah, it definitely needs work. I tried to get a rule in place before the season started, but my league didn't seem to understand how it worked and voted it down.

My common sense approach is to mirror what the NFL does. If they allow players to come off of IR and play then so should fantasy teams.

 

[Lascelle]

Adding LOTS of names to the list along with when they're eligible to return (as requested)...

DESIGNATED FOR RETURN/RECALL PLAYERS

* OFFENSE - MAY BE STASH-WORTHY IN ALL LEAGUES *

Arizona RB Beanie Wells (can return for Week 12)

Cleveland WR Jordan Norwood (can return for Week 14)

Green Bay RB Cedric Benson (can return for Week 14)

New England TE Visanthe Shiancoe (can return for Week 10)

San Diego WR Vincent Brown (can return for Week 9)

* DEFENSE - MAY BE STASH-WORTHY IN IDP LEAGUES *

Baltimore LB Ray Lewis (can return for Week 15)

Buffalo CB Ron Brooks (can return for Week 9)

Detroit CB Drayton Florence (can return for Week 12)

Oakland CB Ronald Bartell (can return for Week 10)

Tampa Bay CB Anthony Gaitor (can return for Week 14)

* OFFENSIVE LINE - ONLY NOTABLE SO AS TO NOT EXPECT OTHER RETURN/RECALL PLAYERS ON THESE TEAMS *

Cincinnati C Kyle Cook (can return for Week 9)

Indianapolis G Seth Olsen (can return for Week 14)

Pittsburgh G David DeCastro (can return for Week 9)

St. Louis C Scott Wells (can return for Week 10)

Washington C Nick Sundberg (can return for Week 11)

Any others I'm missing?

 

[kuha]

I am seeing some reports that Jahvid Best was put on IR about two weeks ago while other reports saying back on PUP. Yahoo seems to believe he is not on IR. Anyone know what the heck is going on here? He's not even eligible to return if he's put on a PUP at this point is he?