What is the PUP list and which NFL players are on it?

Here’s how it works and how it’s different from the NFI list.

Updated Sep 2, 2017, 10:00 PM UTC

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Jeanna Kelley has been covering the Falcons for The Falcoholic since 2011 and the NFL for SB Nation since 2015.

Andrew Luck and Dont’a Hightower were two big names who started NFL training camp on the Active/Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list. But it’s scarier than it sounds. If a player goes on the PUP list during training camp, it doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t be ready to go for the season.

In the case of Luck and Hightower, both players are now off the PUP list before the start of the regular season.

What are the rules for the PUP list?

There are specific rules about when a player can be placed on PUP and when he’s allowed to come off of it.

If a player has practiced during training camp — even for one minute — he’s not eligible for PUP. Players like Luck and Hightower, who started training camp on the PUP, can be removed from the list at any time during the preseason. Once they are, they can get back on the practice field.

The player also has to be a dealing with an NFL-related injury to be placed on the PUP.

What’s the NFI list?

If a player suffered the injury away from the team, or if a rookie is coming off an injury he suffered in his final college season, then he’s not eligible for the PUP list.

Instead, those players go on the Non-Football Injury list. The Broncos placed two rookies on the NFI list at the start of training camp: tight end Jake Butt, who tore his ACL in Michigan’s Orange Bowl loss last December, and Chad Kelly, who underwent wrist surgery before he was drafted.

The rules on when a player can return from NFI are the same as PUP. But if a player is cleared from the NFI or PUP list, he can’t be placed back on that list after the fact. The team will either have to cut the player or place him on injured reserve.

When should I worry if a player is on the PUP list?

The time for concern is when a player can’t get off the PUP list before the end of the preseason. If he’s still on PUP when the regular season begins, then that player is stuck on there for the first six games. Teddy Bridgewater, who’s still working his way back from a knee injury that cost him all of last season, will start the 2017 season on the PUP list. If healthy, he would be eligible to return by the Vikings’ Week 7 game against the Ravens.

Teams always have the option of shifting a player from PUP to injured reserve if it looks like he won’t be physically ready within that six-week timeframe.