The Detroit Lions had near full attendance in their Week 1 opening practice in preparation for the Los Angeles Rams.
The Detroit Lions took the field on Tuesday afternoon for their initial Week 1 practice in preparation for Sunday night’s game against the Los Angeles Rams. It’s a slight deviation from a typical NFL schedule. Most Tuesdays are a player’s day off with Wednesday being the first practice of the week, but it appears the Lions wanted to get a head start on their week.
Media is only now allowed to watch the first 15-20 minutes of practice, which typically only involves individual drills. But based on those observations, the Lions are entering the week quite healthy for the Rams game. Only reserve safeties Ifeatu Melifonwu and Loren Strickland were missing from practice.
On Monday, coach Dan Campbell gave a very nondescript update on Melifonwu, whose injury is reported as an Achilles issue, per the Detroit Free Press.
“It’s really something that’s just been lingering, even before (the Chiefs preseason game),” Campbell said. “It’s slow moving, that’s all. It’s slow healing and take it as it comes.”
It’s unclear why Strickland was absent from Tuesday’s practice, and we won’t know officially until we get an official injury report, which is expected on Wednesday.
If both players can’t go this week against the Rams, it would leave Detroit’s depth at safety a little thin. Detroit still has the services of Brian Branch, Kerby Joseph, and Brandon Joseph but the only possible other replacement they have is Erick Hallett, a second-year player who was only recently by the Lions to their practice squad last week.
The good news is that several Lions players who were sidelined in the last week of training camp were all on the field and participating. That includes Jahmyr Gibbs, Sam LaPorta, Kevin Zeitler, Terrion Arnold, Carlton Davis, and Brian Branch.
We’ll see if any of those players were technically limited in their participation when the official injury report drops on Wednesday afternoon.
