During the pandemic, the NFL and NFL Players Association agreed to dramatically relax the rules regarding injured reserve. For 2022, the rules will be not quite as relaxed.
Via Mike Garafolo of NFL Media, the NFL and NFL Players Association have agreed that teams will be permitted to designate up to eight players for return from injured reserve in the coming season. A player is eligible to return to practice four games after the player landed on IR.
One specific player can return from IR twice this season, but each occasion counts toward the eight total returns from injured reserve.
In 2020 and 2021, teams could put an unlimited number of players on IR, and they could return after missing only three games.
In 2019, teams had only two IR return designations per year. The player had to miss eight games before returning to practice.
