Field Gulls
Former Notre Dame defensive lineman Rylie Mills was the only draft pick placed on the NFI list.
The Seattle Seahawks are a week away from their first training camp practice, but Tuesday marked the day for rookies to report to the team facility in Renton. Notably absent were Nick Emmanwori and Elijah Arroyo, neither of whom (much like almost every other second-rounder) has signed their contract yet.
To freak everyone out for one second, six rookies (including one draft pick) were placed on the Non-Football Injury (NFI) list.
Mills is the most prominent name on here, having torn his ACL while playing for Notre Dame in the opening round of the College Football Playoff against Indiana. He’s designated as an NFI player because the injury, while clearly not non-football, was suffered outside of an NFL practice or game and he’s still recovering from surgery. It is expected that Mills won’t be available to play until midseason at the earliest.
Rookies who are coming off college injuries can go to NFI instead of the physically unable to perform (PUP) list.
As soon as they can pass a physical. Mills isn’t coming back any time soon so it’s more of an issue for the other five rookies. John Boyle noted in his article that the Seahawks had four rookies open camp on the NFI list back in 2024, only to return to practice within a week.
Much like the PUP list, if any of these players is still has the NFI designation after final roster cuts then they’ll miss at least four regular season games.
Tuesday, July 22 for the Wednesday, July 23 practice.
