Time for NFL to consider a version of NBA’s 10 day contract?

The LA Rams roster could not have been battered with injuries with any worse timing.  Not only was the Rams roster pounded relentlessly with injuries, but it happened in the year when the NFL/NFLPA agree to stiffen the rules regarding reinstating players who were designated to Injured Reserve.

The rule changes that went into effect in the 2022 NFL season restored a limit to the number of players who were assigned to Injured Reserve who could be reinstated to the active roster. With the threat of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021, the NFL and NFLPA had agreed to relax those rules to allow NFL teams enough flexibility to respond to a sudden wave of positive testing for the coronavirus among players. As COVID-19 has become more understood, and with the reliance on vaccines to mitigate the worst symptoms, both the NFL and NFLPA agreed to impose limits on how many players could return to the active roster in 2022.

New max for NFL, a new low for LA Rams

That maximum limit was set at eight players for the entire season, a number that the LA Rams had blown through before getting to the midpoint of the NFL season. But as the NFL tightened up the roster rules, it seemed to me that the LA Rams were caught unintendedly in the crossfire.  Was it fair?

Well, it’s tough to argue that it was not fair as the rules applied to all NFL teams equally. It was simply the misfortune of the Rams roster that so many players were hammered with injuries this season and many from the same positional group. But is there a better way to address that in the NFL?

I think so. It’s tough to argue the fact that the LA Rams were not scrambling this season, not just from the number and severity of the injuries suffered this season. But also in the frantic search for the right fits for this roster. Wouldn’t it have been nice to have a way to sign an NFL free agent to a temporary contract that, if the fit simply did not work out, no harm and no foul? After all, the NBA makes use of their 10-day contracts quite effectively. If the NFL adopted a similar type of contractual arrangement, what might that look like?