What does this mean for the Patriots? They’ve used one of their two designated to return spots, and didn’t get the benefit of the player.
To support my contention the Patriots have used one DTR-designation on McClellin, I present
this quote from NFLCommunications.Com italicizing the key portions of the quote.
“At any time after six weeks have elapsed since a player was placed on Reserve/Injured or Reserve/Non-Football Injury/Illness, each club is permitted to designate
two players for return from either list to the club’s 53-player Active/Inactive List. A player who is “Designated For Return” must have suffered a major football-related injury or non-football-related injury or illness after reporting to training camp and must have been placed on the applicable Reserve List after 4:00 p.m., New York time, on the day after the final roster reduction. A player whom the club wishes to designate for return is permitted to return to practice for a period not to exceed 21 days. The club is required to notify the League office that the player has been “Designated For Return”
on the first day the player begins to practice. The player cannot be returned to the Active/Inactive List until eight weeks have elapsed since the date he was placed on Reserve.”
As you see, there’s no mention the player
has to be activated. The mentioned requirement is designating the player on the day of his first practice.