The Packers clearly broke the rule, so Aaron Rodgers should be released.
Of course the NFL will never let that happen.
Multiple teams complained to the NFL last week that the Packers violated the rules regarding players who are eligible to be placed on injured reserve — and that Green Bay should have to release quarterback Aaron Rodgers as a result, league sources told ESPN.
NFL rules stipulate that a player needs to have suffered a new injury that would sideline him at least six weeks to be placed on injured reserve. If that is not the case, the team is obligated to release the player once he is healthy.
Rodgers was activated off injured reserve and played last Sunday against the Carolina Panthers but came out of the game because he was “sore,” according to Packers coach Mike McCarthy.
But Green Bay did not announce its decision to place Rodgers back on injured reserve until Tuesday, after the Packers had been eliminated from a potential postseason spot.
It is not believed that Rodgers suffered any type of new injury against the Panthers. On Thursday, McCarthy described Rodgers as being in “rest-and-recovery mode.”
If Rodgers didn’t suffer a new injury but was placed back on injured reserve anyway, NFL rules stipulate that the Packers would have to release him — which nobody expects will happen. It is why multiple teams raised the issue. Teams wanted to know why the Packers were being granted immunity.
The NFL is very selective in when they enforce rules, so don’t expect anything to come of this.
Flip the page for video of Adam Schefter explaining why teams are upset.