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.