The Pittsburgh Steelers will take to the fields of Saint Vincent College on Saturday, but two players will not be able to practice as safety Mike Mitchell and running back Alvester Alexander were both placed on the Active PUP list by head coach Mike Tomlin on Friday.
Every year, I like to remind people about the rules of the PUP and the importance of placing players on it prior to the start of practices if they are dealing with any kind of injury.
For starters, once a player starts practicing, he is no longer eligible for the Active PUP list. In other words, unless another players is placed on the list prior to Saturday’s first practice, Mitchell and Alvester will be the only two on the Active list.
Once Mitchell and Alvester are removed from the Active PUP list and begin practicing, they can’t go back on it.
So what about the Reserve PUP list at the beginning of the regular season? In order for a player to be eligible for the Reserve PUP list, he has to be on the Active PUP list. Once he is removed from that Active list and practices, he’s no longer eligible for the Reserve PUP list.
So what does all of this mean for the Steelers? Being as Mitchell and Alvester are both expected to start practicing in about a week or so, the Steelers will be completely done with the PUP list for 2014 at that point as no players will be eligible for it.
