I was asked a very important question by a reader today via email concerning Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Senquez Golson, who underwent surgery on Monday to repair a Lisfranc injury that he suffered during training camp. The question centered around whether or not Golson needs to be on the team’s initial 53-man roster in order to qualify for a possible designated to return later in the season.
The short answer to that question is: Yes.
While the league did vote to amend the bylaws this past offseason concerning when a player needs to be labeled as designated to return from the injured reserve list, the old stipulation of that player needing to be on the team’s initial 53-man roster after the final round of cuts are made still remains in place to the best of my knowledge.