Chiefs' Mike Catapano on the non-football injury list (what it means)

The Kansas City Chiefs 2013 seventh round pick ended up on the non-football injury (NFI) list when the Chiefs roster cutscame down on Saturday.

Mike Catapano came down with some sort of illness that first caused him to miss practice on July 30. He participated in a handful of practices over the next month but missed much more.

"Well, we are getting tests done on him just to see what it is, make sure he's OK," Andy Reid said this week. "That's what [Chiefs head trainer] Rick [Burkholder] does, our docs do so they are as thorough as can be with him and just find out what's wrong there."

So Catapano is out for some undetermined period of time. The advantage to placing him on NFI is that he does not count against the roster so the Chiefs can carry another player in his place, and he can rehab with the team and go to meetings. The NFI list means that there will be a window between Week 6-11 that Catapano can begin practicing with the team. Once he starts practicing, he triggers a 3-week countdown to when the Chiefs have to decide to either put him on the active roster or put him on injured reserve.

In other words, Catapano is still with the Chiefs and still has a shot to play this year as they figure out what's wrong with him. He just won't be playing before October (best case scenario).

He's been out long enough where it's probably not one of those things where he's going to be able to walk right back onto the roster and be ready right away. Football shape takes some time. But the priority now is Catapano's health.