Tag: Pup

Detroit Lions EDGE Austin Bryant returns to practice, begins evaluation period

Detroit Lions EDGE Austin Bryant has returned to practice in Week 7, beginning a 21-day evaluation period. He remains on the PUP for now.

It’s been a tumultuous start to Detroit Lions’ Austin Bryant’s NFL career with multiple injuries sidelining the second-year EDGE rusher, but he has returned to practice in Week 7 and begun an evaluation period to determine if and when he can return in the 2020 season.

Bryant began his rookie training camp on the non-football injury list, was activated after a few days, then quickly injured his shoulder during the first week of camp. That injury eventually led to him opening the season on the injured reserve.

He was activated from injured reserve in late November of 2019, placed on the roster, and played in Week 12. Then he was promptly re-injured. By Week 15, he was healthy once again, and played in the final three games of the season — but was once again injured in Week 17.

He opened 2020 on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, but it’s unclear if his injury was related to what happened to him in the 2019 finale or something else.

Today, Bryant is healthy enough to practice, and at his morning press conference coach Matt Patricia said he wants to get Bryant reps to see where he is health-wise. The Lions will now have 21-days to decide if they want to place him on the active roster or if they will put him on injured reserve.

With Julain Okwara placed on injured reserve today, the Lions could use Bryant’s help on the edge and will hoping he is ready to go sooner rather than later.

Tyrone Crawford activated from PUP, on 1st-team DL with Aldon Smith

The Cowboys unveiled personnel changes and debuted new faces along their defensive line at the first practice of training camp on Friday.

Football is back. Granted, guys are wearing shorts and no pads. There are pop-up tents next to the field for cold popsicles and Gatorade breaks. Most of the hitting is being done on tackling dummies; quarterbacks are wearing bright red jerseys so they don’t get touched at all.

But no matter. The Dallas Football Cowboys are officially back at work.

Friday’s first team practice gave assembled media members an early look at the 2020 roster, and the first glimpse of a revamped defensive line that bore little resemblance to the 2019 unit.

Tyrone Crawford played sparingly last season and was ultimately shelved by hip injuries after just three tackles in four games. Today, he was back on the practice field, having passed his physical and being activated from the Active/Physically Unable to Perform list.

With newly-acquired Dontari Poe still nursing a quad injury, Crawford reportedly got in some work at Poe’s defensive tackle slot next to Gerald McCoy.

That shuffling left an opening opposite DeMarcus Lawrence at defensive end. Aldon Smith, welcome back to the NFL.

Reinstated after nearly five full years out of the league, Smith, a former first-round draft pick, reportedly looked very good in Friday’s session, taking first-team reps, batting a Dak Prescott pass into the air, and almost coming away with the interception.

Everson Griffen, signed late Wednesday, still needs to pass two consecutive COVID tests before he can join his new teammates on the practice field. That could happen early next week.

It’s a lot of new faces for just one position group. It can only help that most of the Cowboys players are living at the hotel right next door to the practice facility.

“We don’t have a long training camp,” Lawrence said, according to NFL Network’s Jane Slater, explaining that the impromptu players’ bubble was a team decision. “Need to make sure we get that commitment and friendship and chemistry.”

Lawrence maintains that five hours of practice per day isn’t sufficient for proper team-building with the new guys. But for Cowboys fans everywhere, the fact that the players are even back at practice at all is welcome news indeed.

And along the Dallas defensive line, there is new and improved hope for something good. Maybe very, very good.

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Chiefs place OL Martinas Rankin on PUP list

Rankin also starts the season off on the PUP list.

The Kansas City Chiefs have also placed OL Martinas Rankin on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list according to the NFL’s official transaction report.

Rankin, 25, suffered a knee injury during the Chiefs’ Week 10 loss against the Tennessee Titans. We’d find out the following Monday that the injury was a season-ending injury. The only description we ever heard about Rankin’s injury is that it was to his patella.

The Chiefs acquired Rankin in trade with the Houston Texans, swapping RB Carlos Hyde ahead of the 2019 season.

Like Thornhill, who was also added to the PUP list today, Rankin can participate in Chiefs’ team meetings, do solo conditioning and work with the team training staff. He’s simply prohibited from practicing with the team while he’s on the PUP list.

Rankin can also be activated from the PUP list at any time during training camp. If he remains on the PUP list through training camp he’ll be sent to the reserve/PUP list to start the seasons. From there he’ll have to wait six weeks before he can return to practice. After those six weeks, another six-week window will open where he can resume practicing. If he doesn’t return to practice during that window, the Chiefs will be forced to place him on injured reserve.

This one is a real bummer because Rankin had some serious potential to come in and earn a starting job for Kansas City. He played really well filling in for Andrew Wylie at LG starting in Week 6 of the 2019 season. Now, he’ll likely be competing for a reserve job when he returns from the PUP list.

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