The Detroit Lions are dealing with a slew of injuries to their rookie class.
Lions coach Dan Campbell said rookie defensive end Derrick Moore will miss seven to 10 days with a minor groin strain he suffered in practice Sunday, Aug. 2, while fourth-round pick Jimmy Rolder "will be out for a while" with a hamstring injury he suffered in practice July 31.
"It’s unfortunate for all the rookies," Campbell said. "These reps are valuable, man. You miss valuable, valuable time, but it also is what it is. So the good news is that like I say with Derrick, it won’t be too long. For Rolder it’s a little unfortunate, but at the same time it’s not a season-ender, so that’s good news."
The Lions did not hold a rookie minicamp this year for the first time under
Campbell and Brad Holmes, and four of their seven draft picks have suffered some sort of injury in recent months.
First-round pick Blake Miller was held out of team drills Sunday with an undisclosed injury − he wore a compression sleeve on his left leg − and fifth-round pick Kendrick Law tore his ACLin the spring. Law is out for the season, while Campbell said Miller will practice without restrictions in the first day of pads Monday, Aug. 3.
"We don’t anticipate any issues," Campbell said of Miller. "And he wanted to do more. We kind of held him back, just kind of some individual so feel good about that, so we think he’ll be OK for today."
Undrafted rookie tight end Miles Kitselman also will be out "for a while" with the leg injury he suffered in practice Sunday.
Among their draft picks, fifth-round cornerback Keith Abney and defensive tackles Skyler Gill-Howard (sixth round) and Tyre West (seventh) have stayed injury-free so far in camp.
Lions add TE, release WR
The Lions signed tight end Nick Muse and released former Michigan football receiver Tarik Black, who joined the team in June.
The 6-foot-5, 252-pound Muse last appeared in a regular season game two years ago with Minnesota — the team that drafted him in the seventh-round in 2022. Following his stint with the Vikings, Muse spent time on the practice squads of the Philadelphia Eagles, Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams and New York Jets.
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions injuries: Expect Derrick Moore back sooner than Jimmy Rolder
