Seahawks Have PUP Decisions To Make

When the Seahawks reconvene next Monday, they will have 3 more participants at practice. This is the week where players from the Physically Unable To Preform list can begin practicing. The  team then has 3 weeks to evaluate them and decide to either place them on the active roster, release them, or place them on Injured Reserve, which ends their season.

Players on the PUP List are players who were injured before the start of training camp, and were never able to participate in practices before the rosters has to be cut down to 53 players. This year, the Seahawks have 3 such players: WR Deon Butler, TE Cameron Morrah, and DB Roy Lewis.

Of the 3, TE Cameron Morrah stands the largest change of having a significant impact on the team this season. Morrah is a very speedy pass catching TE who creates significant matchup problems for the defense. With Zach Miller’s injury appearing to be significant, the Seahawks will be in need receiving threat at TE.

DB Roy Lewis stands as the most likely player to be cut. Lewis offers little to the team other than on special teams. While Lewis has been a standout player on special teams in the past, the Seahawks already have Kennard Cox in that roll.

WR Deon Butler will likely find it difficult to make the team unless there is an injury at WR in the next 3 weeks. The Seahawks already have Chris Durham who is on the inactive list most weeks, and there really isn’t room for another WR on the roster. While Butler is a speedy and talented receiver, at this point I find it difficult be believe that he will land above Durham on the depth chart while still recovering from the broken leg he suffered at the end of last season. I expect that he’ll end up on IR.

Few players ever come off of the PUP list and make a major impact. The last significant player to come off the PUP list for the Seahawks was Marcus Trufant in 2009. After returning, he was consistently flagged for pass interference penalties, and was mostly ineffective, though his play did improve later in the season.

It is important to remember that players on the PUP list are almost always recovering from a major injury; something that could not be fixed over the course of the entire offseason. Such injuries tend to have lasting effects on the effectiveness of the player.
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