Lots of news and tidbits for the Detroit Lions today including a Dan Campbell press conference, a bunch of recent Lions transactions, and most importantly to many Lions fans including me, the release of the Lions Rivalries uniforms. Get your credit cards ready (or not).
Let’s start with some of Dan Campbell’s quotes along with my read-between-the-lines analysis.
🔴Bad news or high concern
🟡Uncertain or moderately concerning
🟢Good news or low concern
🟡Thomas Harper, S - ankle injury
Harper has an ankle. Could he be ready this weekend? I think it’s unlikely but you never know.
Harper missed the last preseason game with injury. Sounds like a fairly mild ankle sprain. His place on the roster is likely secure and the injury doesn’t seem long-term enough to warrant IR placement at the 53-man cutdown.
🔴Damone Clark, LB - out indefinitely
He is done indefinitely. This injury took place 3 weeks ago I guess, 2 weeks ago. It’s significant enough where he’ll be out indefinitely.
Campbell did not sound optimistic about this unspecified injury. IR placement seems likely. The Lions could put him on IR at the 53-man cutdown (August 30) if they want to bring him back this season. Or they could release him prior with an injury settlement which exposes him to other teams, but wouldn’t use an IR-return slot to bring back.
🟡Kerby Joseph, S - Still away from the team
He’s doing well. Nothing new. He’s not here right now, he will be though.
Campbell was very curt in his response to the Kerby Joseph question and offered no details.
It’s a bit concerning for both off-field and on-field reasons that Kerby has been away for multiple weeks now. Earlier in camp, Dan Campbell mentioned it was for “personal” reasons. The good news is Campbell confidently stated Kerby will be back with the team. When he might show up on the field is a different matter.
LIONS RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Cedrick Wilson, WR - Placed on IR
It’s always hard to know what to make of IR placement for players who may not have made the 53-man roster anyway. Wilson was right on the fringe. For these fringe players, anything from a short-term to a severe season-ending injury could land them on IR - often with a waive/release with injury settlement afterwards.
So what is the injury to Wilson? Here is the suspected moment of injury when his left knee bangs hard onto the turf…
He stayed in for one play afterwards before going down, which caused some to speculate he was injured on that final play. I disagree with that for these reasons:
Frequently, players do not leave the game on the play they were actually injured. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug as @Whitt715 correctly pointed out on X:
On Wilson’s final play, he started running his route straight-line down the field and started limping a few steps into the route. There was no obvious mechanism of injury.
Wilson is holding his left knee and there was clear, obvious left knee trauma on the play before.
The statistical probability that he hurt that left knee on the very next play would not be zero, but very close to it.
Based on video, a PCL sprain is a good possibility. If it’s mild-moderate, he could be back within weeks. If it’s severe, then it’s likely a season-ender.
Raheem Blackshear, RB - Placed on IR
I didn’t see any injury to Blackshear during preseason Game 2. He was in on the final victory formation kneel-down of the game (#42) without obvious injury. So it’s a surprise to see him go on IR, but certainly not unheard of.
This was the exact situation last week with RB Kye Robichaux who played until the end of the game with no obvious injury. Afterwards, he was placed on IR with a foot fracture. As of now, we don’t know the injury to Blackshear.
Speaking of Robichaux…
Kye Robichaux, RB - Waived from IR with injury settlement
An example of a common foot fracture that can be played through is the Jones fracture, which can have an 8-12 week return-to-play.
Robichaux’s waiver with settlement means he potentially could return to the Lions later this season, if necessary.
Lions sign Jason Taylor, S and Roydell Williams, RB
The RB Williams signing directly correlates with the loss of Blackshear. The safety Taylor signing may be correlated to Thomas Harper’s ankle injury.
At this point the Lions just need mercenaries to play in the meaningless preseason Game 3.
Detroit Lions Rivalries Uniform
The most important news of the day (from my standpoint) was the reveal of the new Detroit Lions Rivalries uniforms.
I think the carbon fiber pattern looks fine, but would have preferred something more metallic to fit the Motor-City theme. I was also hoping for a base silver or chrome color. The color is a subtle off-white or very light-grey, maybe similar to what the Rams have worn in recent years.
The current white jerseys already have “Detroit” across the front so there is no change there. A different label like “Motor City” would have been more distinctive. The Titans Rivalries got a unique “Music City” label.
The Colts Rivalries got a really nice silver logo on their sleeves. It would have been really cool to see a silver Lions logo.
The Lions debut the new uniforms on November 11 (Week 8) vs the Vikings. The style and colors are very similar to the Carolina Panthers, so it’s good they didn’t debut on Week 4 vs the Panthers - my brain would have had a stroke watching that.
Overall, while the uniform looks fine, it feels like a low-effort design without any distinguishing features. But that’s just my opinion. Here are some follower’s opinions on X…
And here’s a look at all the NFL Rivalries uniforms for this year…
LAPORTA HAS RETURNED TO PRACTICE!
REJOICE!