Players who are placed on injured reserve aren’t automatically ruled out for the rest of the season. If they recover in time, they’re able to return after missing a minimum of four games.
That doesn’t mean teams can bring back as many players as they want from IR, though. There are limitations, and for the Los Angeles Rams, the seemingly never-ending injuries could lead to some difficult decisions.
During the regular season, teams are allowed to designate a maximum of eight players to return from IR, plus another two if you make the playoffs. The Rams have already used one such designation on Keagen Trost, bringing him back from IR last week.
They currently have 10 other players on the injured reserve list, which means not all of them would be able to play again this season, even if they were to recover from their respective injuries.
Excluding players who have already been ruled out for the remainder of the season, these are the key names to know on IR:
- Davante Adams
- Myles Garrett
- Kobie Turner
- Terrance Ferguson
- Justin Dedich
- Ronnie Rivers
If the Rams want all of those players to return, that would bring their total to seven, including the one designation already used on Trost. We know that Adams, Garrett, Turner and Ferguson will all be designated to return once they’re healthy, so that gives the Rams five certainties including Trost.
Considering it’s only Week 7, that could prevent the Rams from designating Dedich and Rivers to return unless it’s absolutely necessary.
They need to save some spots for the rest of the season in case other starters are forced to go on IR because, as Sean McVay said Wednesday, the list is “building up pretty quickly.
“I mean, you know that you have the allotted amount of guys that you can return. Obviously, used the one on Trost. It's building up pretty quickly, but that's stuff that once you start talking about bringing guys back, you just have to have a big-picture perspective, all things considered. Right now, I'm just focused on the Raiders. And then when those conversations come up, those are things that Les [Snead] and I discuss.”
The last thing the Rams want is to use all their IR designations and then lose a starter like Puka Nacua or Kyren Williams to injury. In that case, they would probably have to eat the roster spot and keep them on the 53-man roster rather than putting them on IR without the ability to bring them back.
There’s a calculus to it, as Les Snead often says, and hopefully the Rams don’t have to do too much math as the season goes on.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Rams could have tough decisions with IR list 'building up pretty quickly'