RealGM

This might not be practical due to roster counts and active rosters, but if a player is suspended and too injured to play, can a team count him as one of the 46 but have him suspended for the game? Or do they have to wait for them to be healthy and then he's suspended? How much can or do they fudge it?

Also, I have heard it implied that suspended players don't count towards the 53? Is that true and if so, should it be or should that be a consequence the team faces upon suspension (52 other players plus suspended player)?

Thanks if any of you know the answers.

I'll address the last part first. Suspended players do not count towards the 53 man roster but imo it wouldn't really matter if a suspended player counted towards the 53 since you only play 46 but I'm sure teams would not go for that anyway.

I believe suspensions don't start till the player is healthy so you probably could fudge something like if a player had a sprained ankle and had a 4 game suspension you may get away with where the player would have been out a few games anyway and when he is healthy he has already served his suspension. But major injuries are known so if a guy tore his ACL he would have to heal first then serve his suspension at least that is the way I interpreted the rule.

Keep in mind that suspended players do not have access to the team which means no locker room, training room, or team doctors. I don't how many teams will let other Drs look at the players.