The Detroit Lions closed out their spring program on Wednesday afternoon with their final minicamp practice. Here’s a look at the latest injury news as we head into a break.
As a reminder, these injury notes are not official, but based on my own observations.
Not practicing
- WR Kendrick Law (ACL)
- TE Tyler Conklin
- G Ben Bartch (foot)
- CB Avonte Maddox (personal)
- S Kerby Joseph (knee)
- S Brian Branch (Achilles)
Law was officially placed on injured reserve on Wednesday, officially ending his rookie campaign after tearing his ACL during OTAs.
Conklin continues to sit with an undisclosed injury. At this time, there doesn’t appear to be any concern about
his condition, and tight ends coach Steve Oliver said this week he’s excited to have him aboard, suggesting it’s nothing too serious.
“Conk’s the ultimate pro. Year nine coming in, and he wants to be coached, he wants to get better every day,” Oliver said. “He’s grasped the system really well and the guys in the room have been great. He’s been a great addition. I’m just really excited to have him.”
Maddox continued to be sidelined with a personal issue, while Joseph and Branch were both on the sidelines supporting the team and helping out with drills. Of note, Lions assistant head coach/safety coach Jim O’Neil said that while he can’t predict how ready Joseph will be for training camp, he is going to need to get some practice work in if he’s going to return to form.
“Maybe not every day, but you need to practice. You can’t take a year off of football and expect to go play at an All-Pro level,” O’Neil said. “And that’s everybody at every position. You need to practice to get the timing, to have the chemistry. We’ve got a lot of new guys. So absolutely he needs to practice. Does he need to do it every day? Probably not.”
Limited
- TE Sam LaPorta (back)
- CB Terrion Arnold (shoulder)
It was the same as it’s been for LaPorta: participate in walkthroughs, then work with a trainer during team and positional drills. The Lions tight end denied requests to talk to media after practice.
On the other hand, Arnold did talk to the media. He stayed on the field for all of practice, but did not participate in team drills. After practice, he gave an estimate on how he’s feeling.
“Enter camp I obviously want to be 100 (percent), but right now I’d say I’m at about 75-80%,” Arnold said. “I think the main thing for me is just knowing that I am healthy now. It’s one of those things you when you have to go through and you have to go out there and play and know that you aren’t 100%. Nobody is at 100%, but just being able to go out there, enter camp knowing that I done had the surgeries, got worked on, feeling better. I’m ready for that.”
Lions coach Dan Campbell said getting healthy should be Arnold’s primary goal right now, but when training camp comes, his spot on the starting roster is not guaranteed.
“Then it’s on. It’s just about competing,” Campbell said. “We got a lot of good guys in that room and he knows this, he’s got to go earn it.”
