I don't know. If it somehow got super obvious that he was ready, and the media got all over it, it might be a possibility the league might actually not want to look like dumbos for once.
Huh...""I fully expect that he'll be able to contribute come playoff time" - sounds fishy to me. A star player for a team exactly his cap hit over the salary cap will be back exactly in time ready to contribute when the playoffs when salary cap doesn't matter...
Thoughts? Any thoughts he'll be forced to come back if he's ready earlier - how would TBL even accomplish that?