When the New England Patriots take the field for their first practice of this year’s training camp tomorrow, one of the team’s most important players will not be present: wide receiver Julian Edelman is dealing with a thumb injury and will reportedly miss around three weeks because of the issue that was described as a mild trauma. As a result of the injury, the Patriots will move Edelman to the non-football injury list today (per ESPN’s Field Yates).
The NFI distinction is similar to the physically unable to perform list (PUP): players can be activated at any time before early September’s roster cutdowns and still count against the 90-man roster limit.