Players On IR With Designation To Return

As of 3:00pm central time this past Sunday, NFL teams could begin adding players to injured reserve lists with the designation to return. Unlike the usual IR list, which keeps a player inactive all season or until he reaches an injury settlement with his team, this shorter-term IR list allows a player to begin practicing after six weeks and to begin playing in games after eight weeks.

Of course, whereas the standard injured reserve list can accommodate several players at once, NFL teams can only use the designation to return on one player, so teams must be cautious about how to fire that single bullet. Given the eight-week time frame for the IR-DTR slot, most clubs will use it during the season’s first few weeks if they need to use it at all.

So far, a handful of clubs have taken advantage of the opportunity to use the IR-DTR spot — we’ll list all those players right here. If other clubs decide to use their openings at any point, we’ll note that below as well. This post can be found anytime on our right-hand sidebar under the PFR Features menu.

Here’s the full list so far:

AFC East:

AFC North:

AFC South:

  • Houston Texans: Used on TE Ryan Griffin (MCL) after Week 1
  • Indianapolis Colts: Used on CB D’Joun Smith (knee) after Week 1
  • Jacksonville Jaguars: Used on WR/KR Rashad Greene (thumb) after Week 2
  • Tennessee Titans: Used on RB David Cobb (calf)

AFC West:

  • Denver Broncos: Unused
  • Kansas City Chiefs: Unused
  • Oakland Raiders: Used on S Nate Allen (MCL) after Week 1
  • San Diego Chargers: Used on DT Darius Philon (hip/thigh) after Week 5

NFC East:

NFC North:

NFC South:

NFC West:

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