Detroit Lions safety Avonte Maddox will miss the rest of the season after injuring his left foot in last week's loss to the Buffalo Bills.
Lions coach Dan Campbell said Maddox will undergo surgery to repair the injury, and the Lions are canvassing the league for multiple replacements. The Lions worked out several veteran safeties Monday, Sept. 21, and are attempting to sign a player − or players − of another team's practice squad.
Jordan Fuller and Jalen Mills, who played briefly for the Lions last season, were among the veterans reportedly at Monday's workout.
"Brad’s been working on getting some guys in here," Lions coach Dan Campbell said of general manager Brad Holmes. "We had a workout this morning just looking for a veteran guy, and then
we're looking for some of these safeties that are on other teams right now that are promising young players that we could potentially poach and bring in and let them compete."
The Lions already are without starting safeties Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph, and Campbell said neither is ready to return to practice from the injuries that cut short their season last year.
Maddox and Chuck Clark started the first two games at safety, and Christian Izien and Thomas Harper have seen action in reserve. Clark has one interception and is second on the team with 14 tackles through two weeks. Harper is tied for the team lead with two pass breakups, and Izien missed the Lions' opener with a groin injury but returned to play 26 defensive snaps against the Bills.
Campbell said the Lions plan to "move some guys around" and hinted at other changes that could be coming to a defense that ranks 31st in the NFL in scoring and total defense after allowing 71 points in its first two games.
"We’re going to do a couple things defensively, we’re going to move some guys around, we’re going to give some guys some opportunities to play here and shake it up a little bit because they’ve earned that," Campbell said. "We’ve got some guys in here that have earned some playing time, that they deserve a chance to do more for us. And then like I said, Brad’s bringing in some more guys in the immediate and we’ll see what they can do The faster we get them here, the faster we get a look at them and they get acclimated with what we do, and then we’ll see."
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: Avonte Maddox out for season. Here's where Lions go next at safety
