Why knowing the rules is sort of a big deal

There’s a story that’s circulating around social media this morning that, frankly, I think a lot of Minnesota Vikings fans would find pretty hilarious. It concerns the Green Bay Packers and their handling of the situation with quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

It turns out that, to steal from one of those memes that all the kids love so much, that the Packers may have effed up when it comes to A-A-ron.

According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, there are a number of NFL teams that are angry about the fact that the Packers, after activating Rodgers for one week following his broken collarbone, placed him back on injured reserve because he was “sore.” (Spoiler alert: It’s Week 16 in the NFL. . .lots of dudes are “sore” at this point.)

Per NFL rules (according to Schefter), in order for a team to place a player back on injured reserve after reactivating him, he would have had to suffer a new injury that would sideline him for at least six weeks. The Packers have disclosed no such injury for Rodgers, as far as anyone knows. The kicker is that if that’s not the case, the team is obligated to release the player when he’s healthy.

If you thought the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments was fierce when the Packers lost Aaron Rodgers for a few months, can you imagine what it would sound like if they had to straight-up cut him?

Now, if you’ll recall, the Vikings brought running back Adrian Peterson back last season for Week 15, and then he didn’t play for the final two games. From everything I can see. . .or, at least, from the inactive list post that I did before the final game. . .the Vikings did not put Peterson back on injured reserve. They simply deactivated him for the final two games, which is precisely what you’re supposed to do. I’m guessing that Rick Spielman knew that he couldn’t put Peterson back on IR under those circumstances.

Honestly, I don’t expect anything to actually happen to the Packers as a result of what they’ve done. If you’re waiting for the league to actually apply the rules to Ted Thompson, you’d better pack a sandwich and a beverage. But, it is kind of funny to see, and nice to see that there are some levels of incompetence that even Aaron Rodgers can’t cover up.