Buffalo Bills could benefit from changes to the rules for the NFL’s PUP list
On Sunday, Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott announced that three players would begin training camp on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list and that included starting cornerback Tre’Davious White. He is working his way back from a torn ACL last year and while he is considered to be on track, he wasn’t ready to begin training camp.
The addition of White to the PUP list means that he will not be able to practice during training camp until he is taken off that list, which can occur at any point before the regular season. If he remains on the PUP list through the entire training camp, the Bills could move him to the PUP list for the regular season.
Changes to the rules could make this an option for the Buffalo Bills
In prior years, if a player was added to the PUP list at the start of the regular season they would be required to miss a minimum of six weeks. These players then would typically take two or three weeks to get up to speed and would end up missing almost half the season in most cases.
This year though, according to Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk, the minimum that a player will miss is only four games. If the Buffalo Bills were to place Tre’Davious White on the PUP list at the start of the season, he in theory could be back by Week 5 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The ideal situation would be for Tre’Davious White to return sometime soon and early in training camp to give him the chance to return for Week 1 against the Los Angeles Rams. This would be great for a defense that is preparing to face one of the best passing offenses in the league to open the season.
However, with each passing day, this seems more and more unlikely and the Bills will need to decide if they are confident in third-year cornerback Dane Jackson and rookie Kaiir Elam as the starter or if it makes sense to add a veteran free agent to a young group of cornerbacks.