Seahawks personnel notes: Jimmy Graham, Thomas Rawls starting training camp on PUP
Jul 30, 2016, 2:43 PM
RENTON – Seahawks tight end Jimmy Graham and running back Thomas Rawls are starting training camp on the Physically Unable to Perform list.
Graham and Rawls, both coming off injuries that cut their 2015 seasons short, were spectators Saturday as the Seahawks held their first practice of camp. That was the expectation. The only question was whether or not Seattle would place them on PUP, a procedural move that allows injured players to not count against a team’s 90-man roster limit while they’re not healthy enough to practice.
Players who start camp on PUP can be taken off at any time before the start of the regular season. It’s only when a player begins the season on PUP that he must miss the first six games.
Coach Pete Carroll said there’s no firm ETA for when Graham and Rawls will be ready to come off PUP, but he said they’ll be re-evaluated in a few days.
“We’re kind of looking at it in segments,” he said. “We’re going to look at these first four days and we go to a break after that. We’ll see where we are after that. If they’re really looking good then maybe we go ahead make the move. We’re not going to be impatient at all with this, but there will be a time when we want them to start to develop in the field because they can’t do stuff with the coaches yet, so they’re only working with the trainers. There will be a time, but there’s plenty of time.”
Graham is coming off a torn patellar tendon that required offseason surgery. Rawls’ injury was a broken ankle and damage to some ligaments. General manager John Schneider said last week that while neither player would be ready to practice by the start of camp, the team believes they’re still on track to play in the opener, which is Sept. 11.
“They’re in fantastic shape,” Carroll said. “Nobody’s worked harder than those two guys. I mentioned it in our first meeting. You don’t normally talk about the rehab guys; I’m talking about the rehab guys because of the effort and what they have given to this offseason.”
Here are some more personnel notes from the first practice of training camp:
• Defensive lineman Michael Bennett was in attendance, as he had said on a few occasions that he would be. Bennett has been lobbying for a new contract since last offseason, which led to some though that he could hold out from training camp in protest like strong safety Kam Chancellor did last summer. But Bennett has reported and was practicing Saturday.
• Left tackle Garry Gilliam took part in individual drills but not much else, still not fully recovered from having a cyst removed from his knee earlier in the offseason. Carroll said he should be back to full speed in a matter of days. In Gilliam’s absence, Bradley Sowell took snaps at left tackle with Seattle’s first-team offense. The rest of Seattle’s No. 1 offensive line looked the same as it did earlier in the offseason, with Mark Glowinski at left guard, Justin Britt at center, rookie Germain Ifedi at right guard and J’Marcus Webb at right tackle.
• Defensive tackle Sealver Siliga is on the Non-Football Injury list. Carroll called it a calf injury.
• Carroll confirmed that 34-year-old defensive end Chris Clemons is retiring, saying that wasn’t a complete surprise. “He didn’t want to play anymore. He’s just done. When we went into it, I had a little thought that it might be getting near the end for Chris. I wasn’t surprised by that, to tell you the truth. He was a terrific player and a great guy on our team. We loved having him and loved the thought of him coming back to us. We were excited about that, but it just wasn’t going to work out for him.”
• Asked about rookie running back C.J. Prosise apparently being limited, Carroll said he felt something in his hamstring early in practice. Prosise missed time earlier in the offseason with a hip-flexor issue.