Orchard Park, N.Y. (WGR 550) - We’re now less than three weeks away from the Buffalo Bills opening their 2022 regular season on Thursday, Sept. 8 against the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium.
Bills All-Pro cornerback Tre’Davious White has yet to step foot on the practice field and remains on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list.
White continues to workout and appears to show great progress in his recovery from a torn ACL last Thanksgiving night in New Orleans against the Saints. But with every passing day, it’s becoming more and more uncertain if he’s going to be available for opening night.
While that’s the date so many fans are wondering if White will be ready by, there’s actually a much more important date for the Bills to have to make a decision by - Tuesday, Aug. 30 at 4 p.m. ET. That’s when all NFL teams must get down to the maximum 53-man roster limit.
White is still counting on the current 81-man roster, even though he’s on the PUP list. That can change, however.
Here are the options available to the team when it comes to White’s situation:
Activate him off PUP before final roster cuts
This is pretty straightforward.
At any point between the time you’re reading this and Aug. 30, the Bills can remove White from the PUP list, making him eligible to practice and play immediately. From there, they would simply have to make a determination if he is ready to go against the Rams.
If not, he would be inactive for that game, but still count towards the 53-man roster, then repeat the same scenario the following week and so on.
Keep him on PUP
If the organization feels White will not be quite ready to play by the Week 1 opener, they can keep him on the PUP list. In that case, he would simply be transferred from “Active/PUP” - which is what he’s on now - to “Reserve/PUP”.
That move can happen at any time between Tuesday, Aug. 23 and Tuesday, Aug. 30. If that were to happen, White would not count on the 53-man roster. However, that would mean he's ineligible to play, or even practice until after the team’s Week 4 game against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, Oct. 2.
At that point, he could begin practicing at any time. As soon as he does, they would have a 21-day window to remove him from the PUP list or he would have to remain there for the entire season.
Release or trade him
Neither of these things are going to happen, but they are available options.
Activate him, then place him on Injured Reserve before final cuts
This is a scenario that only happens if the team feels White will not play at all in 2022, because he would have to miss the entire season.
Place him on Injured Reserve after final cuts
The only way this would come into play is if White was removed from PUP list before Aug. 30, allowing the team to make a decision on his availability for Week 1, then deciding he can’t go and wanting to preserve the roster spot since he wouldn’t count on the 53.
However, by doing it this way, White would have to miss, at least, four games. And when he returns, the Bills would have burned one of the eight “Designated to Return” from Injured Reserve transactions they get this year.
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