Why do teams need to declare inactive players for a game?

[Dopey]

For fantasy football owners like me, of course.

[NoSaint]

12 hours ago, Big Turk said:

I know it's been expanded to allow more active players but why even have it at all?  You have a set roster, why are you forced to declare players inactive for games?  I don't really understand the logic of having players on the team that can't play for arbitrary reasons, especially with injuries as frequent as they are during games.

 

Any thoughts on why this is a thing and why they just don't allow all players on the roster to be active for games? Am I missing something?

 

my understanding is pretty simple. 
 

the nfl wants a set roster limit on game day to force strategic roster management. A specialist for every role is not the goal. 
 

that said, as the game got more complex and the financial impact of a guy walking in off the street became more pronounced, they also realized a need to allow more guys to practice with teams so Monday night football wouldn’t be ruined with an insurance salesman playing safety if a few guys went down the game prior.