Packers designate four players as NFI/PUP to start 2020 training camp

Four Green Bay Packers players have failed their initial physicals to start training camp.

Two players, linebacker Curtis Bolton and offensive tackle Yosh Nijman, ended the 2019 season on injured reserve with injuries. Those two will start training camp on the active/Physically Unable to Perform list, making them eligible for the PUP list when the regular season comes around.

Bolton tore his ACL in the preseason a year ago, the latest in a long line of injuries for the former Oklahoma linebacker. He impressed in the first two-plus preseason games, but was lost in week three of the exhibition slate when the Packers played the Oakland Raiders on a questionable field in Winnipeg. Nijman ended up on injured reserve late in the season with an elbow injury after starting the year on the practice squad and earning a midseason call-up to the active roster.

These two players are joined on an injury list by a pair of rookies whose final college seasons were also cut short by injury. Simon Stepaniak, one of the Packers’ sixth-round offensive line draft picks, tore his ACL during draft practices and will likely miss much of the 2020 season. He will start camp with a Non-Football Injury designation, given to players whose injuries did not result from NFL practices or games.

Likewise, undrafted rookie running back Patrick Taylor from Memphis suffered foot and ankle injuries as a senior. He played through them to participate in Memphis’ bowl game, but the issues are evidently still affecting him.

Like the PUP players, giving these players an NFI designation allows the team to place them on the regular-season reserve/NFI list should they be unable to start the season healthy. These designations keep them on the 90-man roster for the time being.