The Seattle Seahawks placed tight end Jimmy Graham (knee) and running back Thomas Rawls (ankle) on the PUP to open camp, which basically lets them rest their two stars while also leaving open the option to place them on PUP to open the year, but Pete Carroll has remained adamant that they’ll be ready by Week 1. When they’ll actually start practicing though remains another story, but the team will re-evaluate both players after their Wednesday off-day.

That could mean that either Rawls or Graham could be practicing on Thursday, it could mean that nothing happens and they re-evaluate in a week or something, but at least fans should have a better idea where both of them stand by the end of this week. Either way, there is still pretty much no scenario in which Graham or Rawls are going to be playing in their August 13 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs, and Graham might not play in the preseason at all, even if he is ready by their September 11 opener against the Miami Dolphins.

The idea of not playing in the preseason might be a little bit more concerning in the case of Rawls. It’s easy to forget that as good as he was last year, Rawls is only in his second NFL season and has really only gotten a very limited number of reps with the starters. That could mean that even if Rawls is healthy enough to play against the Dolphins, maybe Christine Michael or Alex Collins is the starter to open the year.

But if Rawls is evaluated on Wednesday and the team deems him healthy enough to start practicing again in time to perhaps play by the third preseason game, then all is going according to plan for him, at least. There also isn’t any rush for the young back who turned 23 on Wednesday.

Happy Birthday Thomas, good luck with that ankle checkup and whatnot.