Detroit Lions announce players to start training camp on PUP, NFI

The Detroit Lions have announced their list of players who won’t be ready for the start of training camp and have been placed on PUP or NFI.

The Detroit Lions will hit the practice field for the first time of 2017 training camp on Sunday but not everyone will be ready to participate. Every year brings some players who start camp on Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) and Non-Football Injury (NFI) lists and 2017 is no different.

The Lions announced the players to begin on these lists in a release today. Players must be placed on the PUP/NFI list at the start of camp but can come off at any time. Once off, a player can not be placed back on PUP, so teams tend to be overly cautious by placing players on this list as a precaution more than anything else.

The following players were announced as starting camp on the PUP list:
DE Armonty Bryant
S Don Carey
T Taylor Decker
S Rolan Milligan
T Corey Robinson
DE Jeremiah Valoaga

Taylor Decker is no surprise after undergoing shoulder surgery following an OTA workout injury. He will miss at least the first month of the season and could be out until December.

Similarly, but technically differently, the following players will start camp on the NFI list:
T Cyrus Kouandjio
P Sam Martin
CB Teez Tabor

According to a team release, Martin suffered an ankle injury earlier in the month and Tim Twentyman reports that the injury will cost Martin some time during the preseason.

That’s not a huge deal as long as it doesn’t linger well into the preseason schedule. Although identifying the injury as a foot instead of ankle, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that Martin should be good to go for the regular season.

Martin will want some time to prepare for the regular season but his job is not in doubt and it is typical for teams to carry an extra specialist to keep the load light for established kickers and punters like Martin. We can expect to see a lot of Kasey Redfern as a result.

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Hopefully guys like Tabor and Robinson are short-term situations that allow them to get on the field quickly to compete for their spot in the depth chart. In better news, it’s good to see T.J. Lang and Theo Riddick, both of whom had offseason surgery, apparently ready to hit the ground running when practice starts.