Lions, Bucs initial injury report: Taylor Decker returns to practice

SB Nation

After back-to-back road games, the Detroit Lions (4-2) are back home in Week 7, as they host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-1) in a “Monday Night Football” showdown at Ford Field. With this game falling on a Monday,

both teams’ practice schedules are altered a bit, with the Lions holding their practices on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Let’s take a look at the latest injury report and get you up to date with what we know. Note: Any changes from the last injury report will be bolded.

Injured list updates

TE Shane Zylstra (ankle, Reserve/IR)
LT Giovanni Manu (knee, Reserve/IR) — eligible to return in Week 11
G Miles Frazier (undisclosed Reserve/PUP)
EDGE Marcus Davenport (pectoral, Reserve/IR)
EDGE Josh Paschal (undisclosed, Reserve/NFI)
DT Alim McNeill (ACL, Reserve/PUP) — evaluation window has begun
LB Malcolm Rodriguez (ACL, Reserve/PUP)
CB D.J. Reed (hamstring/IR) — eligible to return in Week 10
CB Khalil Dorsey (concussion, wrist, Reserve/IR) — eligible to return in Week 11
S Daniel Thomas (forearm, Reserve/IR) — eligible to return in Week 8

Lions coach Dan Campbell provided updates on Davenport and Rodriguez on Tuesday, noting that neither are expected to start their evaluation clock this week, but are not too far away from returning.=—with Rodriguez potentially being able to practice after the bye in Week 8.

Campbell on Davenport:

“Not yet,” Campbell said. “He’s doing well, he’s getting better. We like where all of those (IR) guys are at. Man, we’re going to be looking pretty good at the end of November, December, which is awesome. But I don’t see him being ready before the bye for sure.”

Campbell on Rodriguez:

“We’re hoping after the bye we can start rolling him out there a little bit, get him going,” Campbell said.

Rookie guard Miles Frazier was also spotted working off to the side with trainers at practice by Detroit Football Network’s Justin Rogers. For now, he remains on the PUP list, but this could be a next step precursor to starting his 21-day evaluation clock in the coming weeks.

No practice

RB Sione Vaki (groin)
DT DJ Reader (back) — New Injury
CB Terrion Arnold (shoulder)
DB Avonte Maddox (hamstring)
S Kerby Joseph (knee)

Vaki continues to miss practice after injuring his groin in Week 3. With no practices under his belt for over three weeks, he may not return to game action until after the bye week, even if he returns to practice this week.

Reader did not appear to suffer an injury during Week 6, but it’s common for back injuries to show up after the fact. While he didn’t practice on Thursday, it’s worth pointing out that several of the Lions beat writers noted that he was working off to the side with trainers, which could be a sign that he could return to practice soon.

Arnold and Maddox are both expected to miss this game, per Campbell on Tuesday, noting that he is anticipating them returning “after the bye” in Week 8. Multiple Lions beat writers are reporting that Maddox was working with trainers off to the side of practice, which is typically a first step to returning to play.

Joseph didn’t practice all of last week, but was cleared for the game. He unfortunately needed to exit for a handful of defensive snaps and appeared to have a significant limp, but managed to recover and return to the game. On Tuesday, Campbell noted that the team will be reassessing him this week to see if he can play in Week 7.

“You have to weigh every one of those, and so we’ll do that with Kerby,” Campbell said. “We’ll reassess here. We saw the game the other day. He tried to gut through it, played most of the game, and, look, it wasn’t his best performance, and he’ll tell you that, too. He was giving us what he had, so we’ll have to reassess.”

Limited practice

LT Taylor Decker (shoulder) — Upgraded from no practice

Despite Campbell saying that they weren’t anticipating seeing Decker practice until Friday, the Lions’ starting left tackle was on the practice field on Thursday, returning after missing the previous two games. This early return is a terrific sign of Decker’s progress and could open up the door for him to return to play in games as early as this week. With the bye week looming, there remains a scenario in which they allow him to rest another week, but with him practicing, they now have options moving forward.

Full Practice

DT Alim McNeill (ACL — Still on PUP) — Days remaining on clock: 5
LB Zach Cunningham (hamstring) — Upgraded from no practice

McNeill is expected to be removed from PUP, added to the active roster this week, and play against the Bucs, barring anything unexpected this week, per Campbell. Previously, Campbell noted that when McNeill did return to the 53-man roster, the plan was to take it slow with him and give him around “20, 25 plays” in his first game back.

“Listen, this is his first game back so it’ll be—he’ll have to shake off a couple of cobwebs, but after what I’ve seen the last two weeks, it won’t take long,” Campbell said.

Cunningham injured himself at practice in Week 4 and has not practiced the previous two weeks. This return to practice is a good sign that he is on his way to returning to play, but with his extended time off, he’ll need to show he has reacclimated to football before seeing any game action. Again, with the bye being next week, it’s possible he sits another week, but with a full practice under his belt, he’s just as likely ready to return.

No longer on the injury report

WR Amon-Ra St. Brown (wrist)
WR Kalif Raymond (neck)

St. Brown missed practice on Wednesday, Week 6, as part of a maintenance day, but he returned to practice the rest of the week and played a full allotment in the game. Expectations are that he should be good moving forward.

Raymond missed one practice last week but was able to return in a limited fashion at the end of the week. He was limited in the game, playing only a handful of snaps on offense and special teams, which could be attributed to his limited involvement in the game plan after his limited time on the practice field. Returning to practices this week is a good sign that he should be back on track to see his typical usage.