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Nick Emmanwori is on the PUP list?
What does that mean?
Is that where dogs go? After all, teammates have often called the Seahawks’ do-it-all safety/linebacker/versatile chess piece “a dog,” for how skilled and ruthless he is on their top-ranked defense.
No, the key to coach Mike Macdonald’s versatile, changing defense that led the NFL in fewest points allowed through winning the Super Bowl in February is, unexpectedly, on Seattle’s physically-unable-to-perform (PUP) list to begin training camp.
The Seahawks put three players on the PUP list this week, before camp begins Saturday. Running back Kenny McIntosh and cornerback Tyrone Broden also went onto the PUP list Monday, upon reporting to training camp early.
The team put rookie defensive tackle Deven Eastern on PUP last weekend, soon after first-year players reported.
That indicates Emmanwori, McIntosh, Broden and Eastern failed the physical examinations players take when they report for training camp. Players have to pass those physicals to begin practicing in camp.
Emmanwori was a surprise. He practiced during the Seahawks’ organized team activities this spring, and in mandatory minicamp in early June.
Emmanwori being on PUP sounded alarms among some Seahawks fans and news outlets across the country. Yet it’s not an injured list that is long-term.
It’s more like “Injury List Light.”
Unlike injured reserve, NFL rules say players on the PUP list to begin training camp count against a team’s preseason roster limit of 90 plays. And PUP list players can come off it at any time, upon them passing a physical.
That’s a key distinction. Players are on the PUP list because their team believes they are likely to return to practice in camp. Teams aren’t putting them on injured reserve — those players do not counting against the 90-man roster and may miss the season — because the team believes PUP list players are going to be practicing sooner than later.
Teams often put players on PUP to protect them against themselves. It’s often a pacing mechanism, to keep a player from pushing too hard too early in camp following an injury from the previous season.
Players on PUP list to begin training camp cannot practice or play in preseason games, but they can use their team’s training and medical facilities and participate in team and position meetings. If a player remains on PUP list through August and the end of the preseason, he is eligible to be on the PUP list to begin the season. That would mandate he miss a minimum of the first four games.
Emmanwori played Super Bowl 60 in early February days after he sprained his ankle in a Seahawks’ practice in San Jose, California. Macdonald later said when Emmanwori got a lower-ankle sprain when he twisted it defending a pass four days before the Super Bowl, the coach was up that night fearing his key weapon would not be able play in the title game.
He returned to practice two days later, when called it “a little scare.”
Emmanwori said last month he tested his ankle hard in pregame warmups, “and it was, you know, holding up.”
He played 70 of the Seahawks’ 72 snaps in the Super Bowl, a 29-13 win over the Patriots that wasn’t that close.
The News Tribune asked Emmanwori during Seattle’s minicamp in June whether the ankle limited him at all in the weeks and months he trained after the Super Bowl, into this spring.
“Nah,” the South Carolina native and Seahawks’ second-round draft choice in 2025 from South Carolina said June 9.
“I mean, of course, after the Super Bowl ended right, I recovered. Stayed in Seattle a little bit while everybody left. (I went) back to the East Coast, recovered. Do what I had to do in the offseason. Did rehab a lot, just to fortify my ankle and make sure there are no problems right now.”
Emmanwori also said of his ankle: “All good now.”
McIntosh tore ligaments in his knee 12 months ago, early in the Seahawks’ 2025 training camp. He did not participate in the team’s OTA practices this spring or its mandatory minicamp. The team’s seventh-round draft choice in 2023 out of Georgia is entering the final year of his rookie contract. Injuries have derailed his NFL career, beginning through his first training camp three years ago.
Broden, a converted wide receiver and undrafted rookie free agent in 2025, was injured late season while practicing as a backup. He didn’t play in a game last season.
The Seahawks drafted Eastern in the seventh round in April, out of Minnesota. He missed most of the team’s OTAs and the minicamp while out injured.
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What does that mean?
Is that where dogs go? After all, teammates have often called the Seahawks’ do-it-all safety/linebacker/versatile chess piece “a dog,” for how skilled and ruthless he is on their top-ranked defense.
No, the key to coach Mike Macdonald’s versatile, changing defense that led the NFL in fewest points allowed through winning the Super Bowl in February is, unexpectedly, on Seattle’s physically-unable-to-perform (PUP) list to begin training camp.
The Seahawks put three players on the PUP list this week, before camp begins Saturday. Running back Kenny McIntosh and cornerback Tyrone Broden also went onto the PUP list Monday, upon reporting to training camp early.
The team put rookie defensive tackle Deven Eastern on PUP last weekend, soon after first-year players reported.
That indicates Emmanwori, McIntosh, Broden and Eastern failed the physical examinations players take when they report for training camp. Players have to pass those physicals to begin practicing in camp.
Emmanwori was a surprise. He practiced during the Seahawks’ organized team activities this spring, and in mandatory minicamp in early June.
Emmanwori being on PUP sounded alarms among some Seahawks fans and news outlets across the country. Yet it’s not an injured list that is long-term.
It’s more like “Injury List Light.”
Unlike injured reserve, NFL rules say players on the PUP list to begin training camp count against a team’s preseason roster limit of 90 plays. And PUP list players can come off it at any time, upon them passing a physical.
That’s a key distinction. Players are on the PUP list because their team believes they are likely to return to practice in camp. Teams aren’t putting them on injured reserve — those players do not counting against the 90-man roster and may miss the season — because the team believes PUP list players are going to be practicing sooner than later.
Teams often put players on PUP to protect them against themselves. It’s often a pacing mechanism, to keep a player from pushing too hard too early in camp following an injury from the previous season.
Players on PUP list to begin training camp cannot practice or play in preseason games, but they can use their team’s training and medical facilities and participate in team and position meetings. If a player remains on PUP list through August and the end of the preseason, he is eligible to be on the PUP list to begin the season. That would mandate he miss a minimum of the first four games.
Emmanwori played Super Bowl 60 in early February days after he sprained his ankle in a Seahawks’ practice in San Jose, California. Macdonald later said when Emmanwori got a lower-ankle sprain when he twisted it defending a pass four days before the Super Bowl, the coach was up that night fearing his key weapon would not be able play in the title game.
He returned to practice two days later, when called it “a little scare.”
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Emmanwori said last month he tested his ankle hard in pregame warmups, “and it was, you know, holding up.”
He played 70 of the Seahawks’ 72 snaps in the Super Bowl, a 29-13 win over the Patriots that wasn’t that close.
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Nick Emmanwori: “All good”
The News Tribune asked Emmanwori during Seattle’s minicamp in June whether the ankle limited him at all in the weeks and months he trained after the Super Bowl, into this spring.
“Nah,” the South Carolina native and Seahawks’ second-round draft choice in 2025 from South Carolina said June 9.
“I mean, of course, after the Super Bowl ended right, I recovered. Stayed in Seattle a little bit while everybody left. (I went) back to the East Coast, recovered. Do what I had to do in the offseason. Did rehab a lot, just to fortify my ankle and make sure there are no problems right now.”
Emmanwori also said of his ankle: “All good now.”
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The other injuries
McIntosh tore ligaments in his knee 12 months ago, early in the Seahawks’ 2025 training camp. He did not participate in the team’s OTA practices this spring or its mandatory minicamp. The team’s seventh-round draft choice in 2023 out of Georgia is entering the final year of his rookie contract. Injuries have derailed his NFL career, beginning through his first training camp three years ago.
Broden, a converted wide receiver and undrafted rookie free agent in 2025, was injured late season while practicing as a backup. He didn’t play in a game last season.
The Seahawks drafted Eastern in the seventh round in April, out of Minnesota. He missed most of the team’s OTAs and the minicamp while out injured.
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