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The rookies for the Seattle Seahawks reported for training camp Wednesday, however, it appears as though a number of those rookies failed to pass their physical upon arriving. According to Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times, the Hawks have placed four of their rookies on the Physically Unable to Perform List, with a fifth landing on the Non-Football Injury List.
Seahawks today placed four rookies on the PUP list --- Marquise Blair, Ben Burr-Kirven, Demarcus Christmas and Phil Haynes. UDFA OL Demetrius Knox was placed on the Non-Football Injury list.
— Bob Condotta (@bcondotta) July 17, 2019
So, for those keeping track at home, that’s second round pick Marquise Blair, fourth round pick Phil Haynes, fifth round pick Ben Burr-Kirven and sixth round pick Demarcus Christmas who will start training camp on PUP.
As a refresher on what that means, players on the PUP list cannot participate in practice with the team until they are taken off the PUP list. If the player remains on the PUP list through all of training camp, then at roster cutdowns to 53 the team has the option to place a player on the regular season PUP list. If a player is placed on the regular season PUP list, they are ineligible to play in any of the team’s first six games of the season.
We know that Burr-Kirven had surgery on a sports hernia back in May, so this would appear to be an extension of that recovery, and Blair was inactive for the last couple days of minicamp in June due to a hamstring injury. However, I have no knowledge of what injuries are currently sidelining Christmas and Haynes.
As for undrafted free agent Demetrius Knox who was placed on the Non-Football Inury list, that is largely due to a technicality. In order for a player to be placed on the PUP list, they must have been injured while partaking in activities related to the NFL. Thus, since Knox suffered a Lisfranc injury in the Ohio State-Michigan game last year and is reportedly still recovering from that, and since college football is not the NFL, he goes on NFI rather than PUP.
So, while it’s time to be excited that training camp is here and the rookies for the Seahawks have reported for camp, it may be time to ask if there’s something in the water causing everyone to get hurt.