Big Cat Country
The Jaguars have added two players to the Physically Unable to Perform list to kick off 2025 training camp.
The Jacksonville Jaguars, to date, have had a reasonably healthy 25 off-seasons. With the Jacksonville rookie class arriving in Jacksonville on Saturday and the team veterans reporting today, the team has added a second player to the Active/Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list this week. The team, on Tuesday announced that sophomore defensive tackle Maason Smith would begin his 2025 training camp on the PUP list with an undisclosed injury.
Smith, a second-round pick from the 2024 draft, came on strong towards the end of the 2024 season, leading all Jaguar defensive tackles with a 9.7% pressure rating.
The PUP list was created as a roster-holding area for players who are physically unable to perform football activities due to football-related injuries. However, these players can still participate in other team activities. They are simply not allowed to practice.
Per NFL rule, the training camp PUP list is defined as:
Players are placed on this list during training camp and count toward a team’s 90-man roster. Players can be removed from the list at any time during camp, but can’t be placed back on the list. Players on this list as of final roster cutdowns must be placed on the Reserve/PUP, released, traded or counted against the 53-man roster.
Note: If Smith, or any other player on the PUP, were to remain on the list after the final roster cuts to 53, he would then be required to miss the first six weeks of the year.
Smith will join Jaguars free agent linebacker Dennis Gardeck on the PUP list. Gardeck’s placement on the list was announced on Saturday, and is presumably recovering from his season-ending torn ACL he suffered on October 21, 2024 against the Los Angeles Chargers. The 2024 injury was Gardeck’s third torn ACL, including one instance in 2020 & another in high school.
Additionally, guard Cooper Hodges was waived in June with a failed physical designation. After clearing waivers from his November knee injury, he initially reverted to the PUP list also. As a note, ESPN has differing information, with Hodges listed on injured reserve, which may require clarification. The promising guard option in the 2023 training camp, Hodges played 9 games in 2024, with 1 start after sitting out all of 2023. Many in the fan base thought he would grow to become the potential successor for Brandon Scherff. However, after dealing with season-ending injuries two years straight, it is currently unknown where he is within his recovery timeline.
