Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has announced that Jamaal Charles will start training camp on the PUP list.
Jamaal Charles has been placed on the PUP list to start camp, #Chiefs coach Andy Reid said.
— RIP Terez A. Paylor (@TerezPaylor) July 27, 2016
For all of you trying to breathe but failing to find air, please relax and read the following. While some are aware that being placed on the Physically Unable to Perform list means you are out for six weeks, that only applies to the regular season. When a player is placed on the PUP list during training camp, he can return at any time.
The reason teams do this is to allow camp to have a full 90 player present. Any player on the PUP list does not count against the roster limit, and when Charles is activated, somebody will be released.
As for Charles, this isn’t a surprise. He tore his ACL in October but all indications are that he’s coming along fine. He was able to do individual drills in OTAs, which should make some feel better. Also, this just means that he won’t get hurt on some meaningless hit in training camp.
"He's on a track and he's played a lot of downs so he knows what he needs to do to be ready." - Reid on Charles
— Pete Sweeney (@pgsween) July 27, 2016
While the optics are that Charles is still hurt and that everyone needs to panic, that isn’t the reality. Charles is very much on pace to be on the field come Week 1 against the San Diego Chargers.