The NFL and the NFLPA have agreed on some new rules for reserve lists and practice squads for the 2022 NFL season. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport shared the league’s memo on the changes, which expands and solidifies some of the rules seen in recent seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Let’s start off by taking a look at the new reserve list rules. Players who are designated for return from the reserve/injured or reserve/non-football injury/illness lists now may only return after four games have elapsed from their placement on the list. Previously, the NFL only required three games to have elapsed before players could return to action.

Another significant change coming to reserve lists is the number of players permitted to return. Over the past two seasons, the league allowed an unlimited number of players to return from injured reserve due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, only eight players per team will be permitted to return from reserve lists. That’s actually an increase from the pre-pandemic number, which was set at three players ahead of the 2020 NFL season.

Players are also now permitted to return from injured reserve twice in a single season. The NFL did not previously allow a player to return from IR more than once in a single year. Basically, this just provides a team with more flexibility than they’ve previously had. You don’t have to end a player’s season by placing them on injured reserve in order to free up a roster spot if they get injured a second time.

As for the new practice squad rules, the NFL is adopting the 16-man practice squad that they had used during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the expansion under the pandemic, the league had increased the size of practice squads to 14 players. The NFL is also allowing more veteran players to be carried on the practice squad, with the ability to carry up to six players with any number of accrued seasons. The previous maximum set during the pandemic was four.

The NFL and NFLPA also agreed to expand practice squad elevations. Teams are now permitted to elevate a player from the practice squad to the game-day roster a maximum of three times per season via standard elevation. The previous threshold was set at two games per season.