Raiders place LB Ben Heeney, TE Cooper Helfet on injury list

Two Raiders players will miss the start of training camp for medical reasons, the team announced Tuesday.

They soon could have company.

Linebacker Ben Heeney and tight end Cooper Helfet were placed on the non-football injury list. The team has yet to place anyone on the physically unable to perform list. The latter designations, if the team has any, must come later this week.

Semantics separate which players are added to which injury list.

In either event, any player on NFI or PUP will count against the 90-man roster while sidelined. He is also eligible to make his training-camp debut upon passing a physical.

The PUP List would apply to a player whose injury came, for example, during a spring on-field workout. Defensive lineman Jihad Ward is one such candidate; he underwent surgery for an apparent foot injury suffered on June 6 during organized team activities.

It is unclear if he’ll be ready for camp.

Raiders rookies reported Monday in Napa, California. Veterans are not due until Friday. The first full-squad camp practice comes Saturday at 11 a.m.

Heeney, a 2015 fifth-round pick, started two of the team’s first four games at inside linebacker last season. He saw his defensive role diminish, however, prior to an October ankle injury.

Helfet injured his foot during the Seahawks’ first practice of training camp in 2016. He was placed on injured reserve and later released with an injury settlement.

The Raiders signed him to their practice squad last October and retained him in January on a reserve/future deal. It’s not known if his current injury is related to last year’s one.

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Contact reporter Michael Gehlken at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GehlkenNFL on Twitter.