IR Problems/any suggestions?

[rudiblack]

The league I am in is having problems with people either abusing or unknowingly using IR wrong. The league rule is as follows:

Injured Reserve
Injured reserve is implemented. We will use the http://nfl.com/injuries as our check and balance for those players added to the injured reserve. The player must be listed as OUT. There is a $1.00 transaction fee for placing a player on the injured reserve. There is no transaction fee to activate a player from injured reserve.

The problem with this occurs when we have guys that have been out and not playing for a few weeks or if they are reported as being out for a long period of time but not listed on the nfl.com IR report. I also think that part of the problem is that the nfl.com IR doesnt come out until Saturday.

Here is an example of what happened with me last year in my first year in this league. Joseph Addai was not listed on the IR reports but it was reported that he was not going to be playing before the nfl.com IR came out on Saturday. So I picked up Kenton Keith, put Addai on IR thinking I was OK since he wasnt going to play. In the end I had to redo the game score with another player (cant recall who) in my starting lineup in place of Keith who I illegally picked up. I ended up with a tie instead of a win and lost sole possession of first place (which I ended up tying for the payout). I also had a slightly worse playoff matchup which I ended up losing.

Similar situations are popping up now this year, again with Addai this week and players like Willie Parker who have been out the previous few weeeks.

What I am looking for is to see what other leagues are using for IR or if anyone has any suggestions for us to use. Our commish was thinking of either getting rid of IR completely or make it a $5.00 charge to put someone on it. He is looking for any suggestions for possible solutions as well. I am a fan of having IR because my teams always seem to get hurt by multiple injuries to players of the same position. Having IR keeps things somewhat competitive as you wouldnt have to drop a good player just to have the right number of starters available for gameday.

So, does anyone have any suggestions? Also I should note that this is not a keeper league, we redraft each year.

[grover99]

Both of my money league have an IR. It is only for players who are on the IR. Being listed as out doesn't qualify, however if you aren't a keeper or dynasty that probably won't work for you. One solution for next year would be to expand the bench spots, and eliminate the IR completly.

[DTMan]

Yeah, Injury Reserve only applies to players who are out and ineligible for the rest of the season. It has nothing to do with a player being Out or Inactive for a game or three. In a re-draft league there's no need for IR (though I suppose if people want to pay a buck to keep a player on IR on their roster, I'm all for the bigger pot). If it's a keeper league, guys should only go on Fantasy IR if they're on NFL IR, as in, done for the season.

Dan

[rmjones101]

Wha?

IR isn't specific to players out for the season. It's there for players who are out due to injuries. They can still return to play within the season. The only requirement is that they are out specifically because of an injury. It's just not used for players who are out due to suspensions/disciplinary actions etc...

[DTMan]

rmjones, do you mean in the NFL or in fantasy? You can define IR that way for fantasy purposes, but what you wrote is not true of the IR in the NFL. I couldn't find the NFL's exact wording of the rule, but you can find confirmation of this info at various informational sites including WIkipedia and Wiki Answers. I know those are not the end-all, be-all for accurate info but they're right on this one. A player's season is over when he's placed on IR. The only possible exception I can think of would be if the player were later released by his team, maybe then he's eligible to play again that season for another team. Not sure.

Maybe people are getting Injured Reserve confused with Injury Report. That's what each team puts out each week listing players who are injured and may or will miss the next game. But listing a player as "out" on an Injury Report does not allow a team to add another player to its active roster; putting him on Injured Reserve does.

[rudiblack]

For our league though, the IR isnt just for those out for the season. If you read the wording of the rule in my first post it states there are no fees for taking them off the IR, which then allows you to start them. It is meant for players that are not playing that week so you have the possibility of still being competitive by adding another player who can start and putting the one not playing on IR.

Thanks for the responses so far. Anybody else have other ways they do IR in their leagues?

[Bobbleheadrusty]

I would think, with your usage of IR, you would have to wait for players to actually be officially reported out on the injury report.

Much like a baseball DL, you cant move them until they are actually out officially. A player can be hurt for 4-5 days and not play, but not go on the DL. I would think your position would be similar to that.

[iwonmyleague.com]

My keeper league uses the IR for players who are out for remainder of the season and can not return. We have one condition, this player that goes on IR HAS to be one of your keepers at the end of the year, no exceptions. The team that places the player on IR frees up a roster spot because that player no longer goes against your roster max. I imagine other league do similar things.

[ABA316]

ESPN allows an OUT player to go on IR (like the DL in baseball). We went keeper last year and changed to ESPN, and this was not learned till the start of the league.

Some people were up in arms about it and some people used it for out players. I hadn't written a rule for that except "for such designated players" so I couldn't do anything that year.

This year I changed it to read words to the effect

"the player must have IR next to his name and be on the NFL's IR report to be eligible regardless of what the site allows."

If an owner violates that they have till the end of the day to correct it or they run the risk of losing the IR player, losing a player they added, or both. I can honestly say I've had to talk to someone once about it all year. That person is new to the league this year and fixed it within 5 minutes.

[flotsamnjetsam]

All my leagues that have an IR slot have 1 rule. The player must be on IR in the NFL, and therefore out for the entire season. Injured players that might play later in the season (Colston, Bush, etc.) have a spot on the bench, not IR. Good luck!