but i could still IR a dude to keep him from getting on someone else's roster ya know?

A better example would be if one of ernie's guys got a 2-4 week timetable today. He might not want to ride out with dude, but IRs him instead of just dropping so that someone else doesn't pick him up if the dude comes back with time left in the season.

Unless the leagues understanding is that IR can only be used with 4 or more weeks left in the year. I just assumed you could always use it provided there's a 4 week timetable.