As has been written about extensively, it is no longer necessary to designate a player to return at the time he is placed on IR. The teams can select a player at the time he is well enough to do so.

However, it was unclear to me if it still had to be a player placed on IR after the final cutdown, and it appears it does. So, they still can not place someone like Banjo or Davis on IR to get down to 53, and then bring them back later. The player still has to be part of the 53 man roster, then placed on IR, just as before.