The Denver Broncos have announced ahead of Training Camp that some players will be on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list and some on the non-football-related injury (NFI) list. Before going into what specific players were placed where, this does not mean that they will miss the first few regular season games. These players can be activated at any time to return to practice. In the meantime, they will all still count against the 90-man roster.
If someone is still on the physically unable to perform list (PUP) at the beginning of the season, this specific player cannot play in the first four games of the season, and following those four weeks, the team has a three-week period to activate them.
Earlier in the offseason programs, head coach Sean Payton mentioned at some point that OLB Baron Browning will start training camp in the PUP list, and on Sunday, it became official.
We've placed OLB Baron Browning & WR Kendall Hinton on the Physically Unable to Perform list and WR KJ Hamler & NT Mike Purcell on the Non-Football Injury list.
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) July 23, 2023
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Browning had a knee injury in the offseason programs, which ended up giving one of the reasons for the Frank Clark signing. Alongside Browning, wide receiver Kendall Hinton was also placed on the physically unable to perform list. Hinton had a procedure on the cartilage of his knee and missed mini-camp.
Wide receiver KJ Hamler, who had a pec injury, and nose tackle Mike Purcell, who has an unknown injury, were placed on the non-football injury list.
Now the good news. Running back Javonte Williams, who suffered a torn ACL during week 4 of the 2022 season against the Las Vegas Raiders, will not be on the PUP to open training camp. The same good news applies to edge Aaron Patrick, who suffered a torn ACL, during week 6 of the 2022 season against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Wide receiver Tim Patrick, who suffered a torn ACL before the 2022 season, and rookie safety JL Skinner, who suffered a torn pec during pre-draft workouts were also not placed on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list, they are all available to practice during training camp. They might start slow but avoided being placed on the PUP List.