Panthers Practice Facility in Charlotte

Since I was less than sure up there ^^^ about IR during the pre-season, I thought I would do a journalism -- I looked up the rules and found this as published by the Associated Press.  Surprisingly, this explains it pretty nicely.

APNEWS.COM: https://apnews.com/article/nfl-injured-r...r%20limit.

Injured reserve:

Players are put on the reserve/injured list — more commonly referred to as IR — when they have a football-related injury and need to miss at least a few weeks. Players on IR don’t count against the active roster, but their salaries count against the cap.

If a player is placed on this list before the regular season begins, he could miss the entire season unless — per a rules adjustment this year — they are designated to return during the roster cutdown to 53 players after training camp. Teams can designate up to two such players to return.

Players on IR need to miss a minimum of four games. NFL teams can designate up to eight players to return from IR during the regular season (and up to 10 if they make the postseason) and an individual player can be so designated twice.  Players designated for return from IR before the season count against a team’s eight- or 10-player limit.

When a player is cleared to practice, a 21-day window begins and the player must be activated to the 53-man roster or be placed on season-ending injured reserve at the conclusion of that three-week period. They could also be released or traded.


What’s the difference between being waived and being released?

Players with less than four seasons of accrued NFL time are waived, meaning they are subject to waivers and can be claimed by other teams. If they go unclaimed after the 24-hour waiver period, they become a free agent.

Players with four or more seasons accrued are considered vested veterans and are not subject to waivers, so they immediately become free agents when they are released. This is the case until the NFL trade deadline in October, when all players regardless of their veteran status are subject to waivers.

Players can also be waived/injured, which means they can be claimed by another team or revert to their original team’s IR list after the claiming period. The team can then decide whether it wants to move forward with the player or release him with an injury settlement.

Clear as .....mud.??  (Actually, it's pretty concise..).