Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

ESPN sets the IR player rules and how they impact waiver claims and free agent acquisitions. ESPN provides the following additional information.

The system automatically places the IR (injured reserve) tag on a player once ESPN receives the status report from the NFL. Only players with the Injured/Reserve (IR) or Out (O) tags are eligible for placement into an IR slot.  Players tagged as Questionable (Q), or Doubtful (D) are not eligible for the IR slot. 

At its most basic and simple level, when you place an eligible player into the IR slot, you gain an open roster slot. As long as the IR player is eligible for the IR slot, basic waiver claims and free agent pickups will remain unchanged.

Where it can get tricky is when you attempt to sign via waiver claim or free agency and the status of the player in the IR slot changes. The system will always ensure that you do not exceed the roster size limit for your league.

Some scenarios to consider when making a claim while you have a player in an IR slot:

• If you have a healthy player in an IR slot, you cannot add any new players to your roster.
  • When you attempt to sign a free agent with a healthy player in an IR slot, you will receive a message to clear your IR before you can make a claim. 
• If you have a player on your IR who becomes healthy in between when you made the waiver claim and when the claim processes, the claim will go through as normal.
  • You will still need to free up a roster slot before you can move the now healthy player out of the IR slot. 

• If you have a player that have recently be upgraded from “O” or “IR” to “QUESTIONABLE” or “DOUBTFUL”, your claims will go through as normal.
  • Those player(s) can remain in that IR slot and the user can make claims/add players, adjust their lineups as they wish, provided position/roster limit has not been reached. 
    
• If you have a player that is “Questionable” or “Doubtful”  on your IR, You will be able to add FREE AGENTS assuming you have an open roster slot.
• If you have an open bench slot when you make a waiver claim but then activate an IR player before the claim processes, your claim will fail. 

Visit our keeper central page for the full details on eligible keeper rules.

The weekly matchup tie breaker goes to bench points. Points by individuals in the IR slot do not count towards bench points, so if they are no longer on IR, there may be a benefit to not leaving the player in the IR slot. A full breakdown of the league settings, including the tie breaker rules for matchups and playoff seeding can be found on our league settings page.

The IR slot rules are set by ESPN and are not changeable by the Commissioner. The ESPN provides the following information regarding the IR slot.

Injury Designations

• ESPN Fantasy Football uses the NFL’s official injury/inactive list to update a players’ injury status
• If the player in question on your team was recently put on IR, the system will register that change shortly
• After the IR tag appears next to that player’s name, you’ll be able to send him to an IR slot on your roster, but only if your league make use of that clutch feature
  • NOTE: In FFL players with either the Out (O) or Injured/Reserve (IR) status may be placed into the IR slot
  • NOTE: Suspended players (SSPD) are NOT eligible for IR on FFL. 
• Changes we made to Players that are upgraded while being on IR spots:
  • If a player is designated as OUT or IR, they are IR eligible (as is today)
  • If a player in the IR slot has their status updated from OUT or IR to QUESTIONABLE or DOUBTFUL, the users roster is NOT invalid. Those players can remain in that IR slot and the user can make claims/add players, adjust their lineups as they wish. 
  • If a player goes from OUT to no longer have an injury designation, the users roster is now INVALID and they must update accordingly.
• ​To learn more about how to move a player on or off of IR, click here.
• To learn more about how IR slots impacts Waiver Claims and Free Agent Acquisitions, click here.

The weekly matchup tie breaker goes to bench points. Points by individuals in the IR slot do not count towards bench points, so if they are no longer on IR, there may be a benefit to not leaving the player in the IR slot. A full breakdown of the league settings, including the tie breaker rules for matchups and playoff seeding can be found on our league settings page.