Rookie Kicker Moved to Reserve-PUP List

Caleb Shudak will be unavailable for at least the first four weeks of the 2022 NFL regular season.

Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen, Iowa City Press-Citizen via Imagn Content Services, LLC

NASHVILLE – Caleb Shudak might be the Tennessee Titans’ kicker of the future.

The future is not now, however.

The Titans transferred the undrafted rookie from the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list to the Reserve-PUP list Tuesday. Under a change in rules this season, the Reserve-PUP list requires that a player miss at least the first four games of the regular season. Any time after that, he can be designated for return to the active roster.

The NFL roster limit dropped from 85 to 80 players on Tuesday, and this move gets the Titans to 80. Four other players were released on Monday.

Shudak was one of three who started training camp on the PUP list, which meant he still counted against the roster limit. An injury sustained during organized team activities in June has kept him out of action since, including all of camp.

The others were tight end Tommy Hudson and inside linebacker Monty Rice. Hudson was removed on Aug. 1 and resumed full participation. Rice is the only player who remains on the list, and the fact that he was not moved along with Shudak suggests that franchise officials expect him to be healthy before the start of the season or within the first four weeks.

Shudak spent six seasons at the University of Iowa but only was the primary placekicker for one (2021). He made 24 of 28 field goal attempts and all 36 PATs past season for 108 points, the fifth highest total in program history. In 2019 and 2020, he served as a kickoff specialist for the Hawkeyes.

He was expected to challenge veteran Randy Bullock for the job with the Titans this season, but the injury and Bullock’s consistency during training camp workouts has changed that.