PLL Roster Designations: a Reference Guide

The 2026 PLL season kicks off on Friday night in Utah. As happens every year, the time period leading up to the opener, including training camp and the first game week, has a flurry of roster moves being made. It can be a lot for fans to digest. Names are coming and going, sometimes names are missing that fans expected to see. The basic roster structure in the PLL is that each team has a 25 man active roster. Each week 19 players are selected from that 25 for the gameday roster, plus two players for the reserve list that can be activated in case of last minute injuries or other availability issues. Reserve players are frequently activated by teams playing two games in a weekend between game one and two to get fresh legs.

Beyond that, there are several different roster designations in the PLL, that all can mean different things. This is a simple reference for what each designation is, along with some other notes about the roster process as the season goes on.

Injured List (or Injured Reserve): Unable to perform due to a lacrosse-related injury or ailment sustained during the season. This is different from the PUP list, which is for injuries that are not sustained during a PLL game. From a fan perspective, the end result is basically the same. The player is hurt, and cannot play. A player who goes on IR must spend at least three weeks there. So you will occasionally see an announcement that a player has been placed on IR, retroactive to a specific date. The three week clock begins from that date. Players on IR don’t count towards the 25 man roster cap

PUP List: Physically Unable to Perform due to an injury outside of a PLL game. If a player gets hurt outside the season, in training camp, in an NLL game, anything other than the course of PLL play, they go on the PUP List. The fan perspective has no real difference between this and the IR. The player is hurt and can’t play. Players on the PUP List don’t count towards the 25 man roster cap.

Unavailable to Travel List: League defines this as “A Player who has an approved excused absence and cannot make the start of the PLL Season.” Translated for fans, these are the guys still playing in the NLL playoffs or coaching college/HS lacrosse somewhere that can’t join the team yet. Toronto, San Diego, Georgia, and Halifax are still playing in the NLL Semifinals, PLL players on those teams are on the Unavailable to Travel list. Coaches on the sidelines for teams in the NCAA tournament are on this list as well. These players don’t count towards the 25 man roster cap. Once the players other obligation is done, they come off this list and onto the active roster (or PUP, Holdout, or whatever other roster designation is appropriate).

Holdout List: League defines this as “A player who fails to report to his club, has not been medically cleared, or fails to submit paperwork will be placed on the holdout list.” Translated for fans, players on the Holdout List are making a choice not to play PLL lacrosse for now. In recent seasons, Holdout List has become a frequent flag for “this player has chosen to play box lacrosse or not play PLL anymore”. It is not always that, sometimes players just need a break from PLL summers, or just a week or two, and have a plan to return. But in general, Holdout List is for when the player decides they’re not playing in the PLL. Holdout List players don’t count towards the 25 man roster cap, and the timetable for their return spans between “a week or two” and “never”.

Military Reserve List: Active duty and training military personnel can go on this list. Players on this list do not count towards the 25 man roster cap. This is regularly used for players who attended service academies in college and have post graduation obligations as a result. AJ Pilate and Christian Mazur are both currently on the Military List, both are not expected to play in 2026.

Excused Inactive List: This can be a bit of a catchall for a player dealing with a personal matter that has permission to be away from the team. Bereavement, paternity, family reasons, medical leave, it can all fall under this list. The official designation used by the PLL in transaction reports is Excused Inactive List though. For example, Blaze Riorden is currently on this list, and it’s for paternity leave. These players don’t count towards the 25 man roster cap.

Unsigned Rookies:

The draft took place in April, while the college season was still being played, and the PLL season will open while the NCAA tournament is being played. 2026 is the first time this has happened, so this is a new roster scenario to address.

Drafted players have a standard entry level PLL contract. The top three picks get a little extra money in their deals, but everyone else has the standard rookie pay (typically at or near the minimum) and a three year deal.

A player that is still playing in the NCAA tournament cannot sign their pro deal until the tournament or their season ends, whichever happens first. A player does not necessarily have to sign their deal right away. Until a player signs their rookie deal, they do NOT count against the 25 player roster cap for their club. Teams are announcing when their drafted rookies sign their deals, so fans will get word via league media channels.

For NLL fans, this scenario is similar to that league’s Draft List. When a team puts a player on the Draft List, it means the team owns that player's rights, but he hasn’t signed his deal yet. The PLL has essentially the same thing happening but without an official roster designation for it.

Some players are waiting to sign their deals on the chance they get another year in college thanks to the NCAA’s potential new “5 in 5” rule. Players would get five years to play college sports from when they turn 19 or graduate high school. Should it take effect, some players who just were drafted are thinking they may be able to get one more year in college, but they wouldn’t be able to take advantage of that year if they sign their pro deal. This is all still in flux and it seems more likely to impact next year’s draft class more than the 2026 class. Players delaying their signing can still sign later this summer, and the expectation is that these players will be with their teams by June.

Post Draft Waivers:

A few teams have placed waiver claims on undrafted players. These signees get a standard two year contract. Examples are the Atlas claiming SSDM Liam Kammar, the Chaos claiming attackman Teddy Malone, and the Whipsnakes claiming SSDM Joe Juengerkes.

The important note with these claims is that when they are made, the club is required to use that player in their 19 man roster the week they’re added.

Inactive Player Claims

If a player is not on the team’s 21 man (19 man, plus two reserve players for gameday) roster for three consecutive games, other teams can claim that player through the waiver process. Appearing in the 21 man resets this clock. If a player does not get claimed, they still remain with their club; they are not released or anything else, they are just available for other teams to claim. If another team claims a player this way, the team has to put that player on their game day roster immediately.