Brandon Aiyuk’s Reinstatement Isn’t Automatic, and the NFL Handbook Reveals the Real Power Player

The NFL, it turns out, can straight up delay or even deny Brandon Aiyuk’s reinstatement from the reserve/left squad list. This is a massive shift from what pretty much everyone across the league thought was just an automatic administrative process, and it changes everything we thought we knew about that specific list.

The “Automatic” Reinstatement Was a Myth

For ages, the understanding around the league was that getting back from the reserve/left squad list was basically a rubber stamp, just something the office handled without much fuss. But the Brandon Aiyuk situation is showing us that the NFL sees things *way* differently. This isn’t some quick admin move, it’s a discretionary call. What’s wild is that the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the rulebook for players and the league, is totally silent on this whole reserve/left squad topic. Nope, the real power, the actual language about how a player gets placed on that list and how they get back, is buried in the NFL’s own Player Personnel Handbook.

The Commissioner Holds the Cards

So, what does that handbook actually say? Well, when a player gets put on reserve/left squad in a given year, their season is done. They can’t play for their current team or any other team. But the crucial part, the one that blew up that “automatic” myth, comes for the *next* year. The handbook states, and this is key, that “A player on Reserve/Left Squad must apply to the Commissioner for reinstatement to his club’s Active List.” Not only that, but it also says, “No player on Reserve/Left Squad shall be reinstated in the same season in which he is placed on Reserve.” The application process kicks in for a subsequent season. This means applying to the Commissioner isn’t just a formality, it’s a necessary step where the Commissioner holds the ultimate say.

So, for Aiyuk, it’s not a given. He’s gotta apply, and the Commissioner has to sign off on it. This is a huge deal for his future, proving once again that the NFL has more leverage than we often realize when it comes to player movement.

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Originally reported by Pro Football Talk.