Lions Week 18 injury report: Alex Anzalone upgraded to full practice

The Detroit Lions released their Week 18 Thursday injury report and Alex Anzalone was upgraded to a full practice.

The Detroit Lions (14-2) and Minnesota Vikings (14-2) will face off in Week 18 in a battle for all the NFC postseason bells and whistles. Let’s take a look at Thursday’s injury report and get you up to date with what we know.

Note that any changes from yesterday’s report will be bolded.

No practice

• RB David Montgomery (knee) — expected to return during the Playoffs
• OG Christian Mahogany (illness) — New ailment
• CB Emmanuel Moseley (illness)

Montgomery still appears to be a few weeks, at a minimum, away from contributing.

Moseley has now missed his second practice due to an illness. An illness designation has a wide range of possible catalysts, so it’s impossible to predict how this will impact his status for the weekend. If it’s just a seasonal flu bug, he could return to practice on Friday and be available on Sunday. But if it is something more complicated, he could miss an extended amount of time.

Mahogany was added to the injury report on Thursday, as he is also dealing with an illness. The same circumstances with Moseley apply to Mahogany, and we will likely have to wait until at least Friday (maybe Sunday) to get any clarification.

Limited practice

• None

Full practice

• WR Kalif Raymond (hamstring) — Injury clock days remaining: 13
• LB Alex Anzalone (forearm) — returns to practice, Injury clock days remaining: 19
• LB Jack Campbell (rib) — Upgraded to full practice
• CB Amik Robertson (calf) — Upgraded to full practice

Raymond continues to stack full practices and seems on the cusp to returning to the active roster. If for some reason he isn’t ready to return for this game, he still has another full week of practices available to him next week.

Anzalone was seen by our own Jeremy Reisman wearing a removable protective brace at practice, something surely put in place as a preventative measure while he acclimates. While Anzalone was officially back on the field after missing over a month of games, Reisman astutely pointed out that it’s been a while since he has been exposed to full contact, raising some potential concerns about his ability to return to game action quickly.

In fact, Anzalone also acknowledged that he might not be ready to play this weekend:

“Obviously, the doctors and the trainers they go through what the risks are: waiting a week, waiting two weeks, going through practice, maybe letting it spin next week or the week after that or this week,” Anzalone said Thursday. “So I think that for me personally, I think it’s like, ‘Okay, say if something did happen, would I be okay not playing in the Super Bowl?’ So I think that’s kind of the decision I have to make in my own head, and is it worth it? How do I feel going over these next few practices? And go from there, because I haven’t practiced in six weeks. So, I’m just using my arm and seeing how it goes.”

Overall, an upgrade to a full practice is encouraging and we should get a more thorough update on Anzalone’s status on Friday during coach Dan Campbell’s press conference.

Jack Campbell and Amik Robertson were estimated to have limited participants on Wednesday but were full participants when on the practice field Thursday. This increase in availability, combined with them both playing every defensive snap last Sunday, are encouraging signs they’re in a good spot for this weekend.

Vikings’ Thursday injury report

Note: Starters are bolded.

Did not practice

• EDGE Patrick Jones (knee)
• LB Kamu Grugler-Hill (illness)

Limited

• RB Aaron Jones (quad)
• RG Ed Ingram (back) — added to the injury report on Thursday
• CB Fabian Moreau (hip)

Full practice

• FB C.J. Ham (quad) — upgraded to full practice
• TE Josh Oliver (wrist)
• S Harrison Smith (foot) — upgraded to full practice