Week 7 injury report: Carlton Davis, 3 others miss Wednesday practice

The Detroit Lions released their Week 7 initial injury report ahead of the upcoming matchup with the Minnesota Vikings.

The Detroit Lions stay on the road in Week 7, as they travel to the Twin Cities to take on the undefeated Minnesota Vikings, in a showdown for the early lead for the NFC North crown.

While the Lions demolished the Cowboys in Week 6, they suffered a few key injuries during the game, while returning others to game action. The worst of the news surrounds losing Aidan Hutchinson and Kyle Peko to injured reserve, but there were a few others who were banged up and did not practice on Wednesday.

Let’s take a look at Wednesday’s injury report and get you up to date with what we know. Note that any changes from last week’s report will be bolded.

Injured reserve, Non-Football injury list

• G Christian Mahogany (Illness, mono) — NFI, evaluation clock started: 12 days remain
• DT Brodric Martin (knee) — injured reserve, eligible to return at any time
• NT Kyle Peko (pec) — injured reserve, expected to be season-ending
• DL John Cominsky (MCL) — injured reserve, could return late in the season
• EDGE Aidan Hutchinson (leg) — injured reserve, expected to be season-ending
• EDGE Marcus Davenport (elbow) — injured reserve, reportedly season-ending
• LB Derrick Barnes (knee) — injured reserve, reportedly season-ending
• CB Emmanuel Moseley (pec) — injured reserve, could return late in the season
• S Ifeatu Melifonwu (ankle) — injured reserve, eligible to return in Week 9

Hutchinson underwent successful surgery to repair his tibia and fibula, and the recovery timeline suggests his season is over, even though some close to him are suggesting a return late in the playoffs could be an option. We have written about trade options to help mitigate the loss of Hutchinson, explored other teams’ practice squad players, tracked who they’ve reached out in interest of (even if they may not be the perfect fit in Hutchinson’s role), and asked fans to vote for who is the most important defender that the Lions may turn to for leadership and production.

Hutchinson has returned to Michigan and coach Dan Campbell said he is doing well, processing expectations, and is contemplating his ability to be involved with the team later on in his rehabilitation.

“He’s doing good,” Campbell said. “Now, he’s trying to process everything, it’s still pretty new and so just exactly, ‘What is this? Where do I go?’ Which you would expect, I mean he’s laying in the hospital room with his leg up, but he’s back and I know that he didn’t want to be a stranger. I know he talked about being back a little bit when it made sense, and he knows he’s welcome here anytime, and we would love to see him. The whole team would love to see him. He’s a huge part of what we are and we hate it for him.”

While Hutchinson has dominated this news cycle, it’s important not to overlook the loss of Peko, who was playing around 25% of the Lions’ defensive snaps.

“I hate it for Peko,” Campbell said. “Peko falls under (the radar) because of what happened with Hutch, but we lost Peko for the season and Peko’s been one of those just kind of silent producers for us. Does all of the dirty work and he’s the one who frees up Alex [Anzalone] and Jack [Campbell] and [Malcolm Rodriguez] Rodrigo and those guys to make the plays that they make. He held down the fort until [DJ] Reader got back and then he’s a rotational guy, so we hate it for him. We’re going to miss him too, but no different than the other, we’ll adapt.”

Some of the ways the Lions are planning to adapt are a potential return of Brodric Martin from injured reserve or a possible elevation of a practice squad player.

“Brodric’s doing a good job (in his rehab),” Campbell said. “Certainly, he’s somebody that Brad [Holmes] and I talked about yesterday. I don’t want to say (that his potential return will be) accelerated, it’s, we like Brodric (and) we like where he’s going. He’s still a young developing player, but we also have Chris Smith, we have [Pat] O’Connor, we have options.”

No practice

• C Frank Ragnow (rest)
• RG Kevin Zeitler (rest)
• OT Dan Skipper (ribs) — New injury
• CB Carlton Davis (quad) — New injury

Ragnow and Zeiter are getting the veteran rest treatment, while Skipper sat out practice with a rib injury. It’s worth pointing out he did have a rib injury before the bye week, so there could have been a possible re-aggravation. That being said, Skipper played 11 snaps on Sunday, including lining up at wide receiver late in the game, there may be some precautionary measures in play here as well.

Carlton Davis lost his helmet while trying to make a tackle last Sunday, and during the play, he was kicked in the head by a teammate and removed from the game in order to be evaluated for a concussion. Campbell mentioned that Davis’ absence was not concussion-related, which means he was cleared on Sunday and likely held out for other reasons: precautionary or due to his quad injury.

“Yeah, I feel good about (Davis’ game status) right now,” Campbell said. “There is a small chance that maybe (he doesn’t play), but I will know a lot more tomorrow on this. I don’t see him practicing today, but I feel optimistic.”

Limited practice

• S Brian Branch (knee) — New Injury

Branch has a new knee injury, but it didn’t appear to limit him last week against the Cowboys. He did rest in the final quarter of the game, but that was when Detroit pulled most of their defensive starters.

Full practice

• G Christian Mahogany (illness, NFI) —Still on NFI: 12 days remain in evaluation window

Mahogany continues to work his way through the injury evaluation process, but with 12 days remaining, don’t expect the Lions to be in a rush to make a decision on his roster status. Early expectations are that he will get in a full week of practice, then be ruled out for the game, before returning for his final practices next week.

Vikings’ initial injury report

Coming soon, but while you wait…