For the second straight week, the Detroit Lions are elevating two practice squad defenders to help.
The Detroit Lions announced on Saturday that they are elevating two “linebackers” for Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills: Abraham Beauplan and linebacker/defensive back Jamal Adams.
While the Lions are getting a bunch of defenders on the defensive line back this week (Josh Paschal, Levi Onwuzurike, DJ Reader, and Alim McNeill), they remain very shorthanded at the linebacker position. Alex Anzalone, Derrick Barnes, Malcolm Rodriguez, and Jalen Reeves-Maybin are all still on injured reserve. And this week, Trevor Nowaske entered the concussion protocol and has already been ruled out.
That means for the second straight week Adams will be part of the active squad. The 10-year veteran signed with the Lions practice squad two weeks ago in the hopes of helping Detroit’s front seven. While Adams has traditionally played safety, he has been working with the linebackers in practice and last week against the Packers, Adams played eight defensive snaps—all in the box. He finished the game with a tackle.
As for Beauplan, he has been on and off the practice squad all season. This will be just his third opportunity to play on game day. He’s been active two other times—Weeks 9 and 10—but in those games, he was solely on special teams. In fact, Beauplan has yet to log a defensive snap at the NFL level.
With Beauplan and Adams, the Lions’ linebacker room looks like this for the Bills game: Jack Campbell, Kwon Alexander, David Long Jr., Ezekiel Turner, Ben Niemann, Adams, and Beauplan.
