Lions cornerback Amani Oruwariye likely out Sunday against the Falcons

In more dismal health/injury news for the Detroit Lions, cornerback Amani Oruwariye is likely to miss Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons.

The Detroit Lions will likely not have quarterback Jared Goff for Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons. But that was somewhat expected, as he had to get cleared off the reserve/COVID-19 list. On Friday morning, head coach Dan Campbell also said cornerback Amani Oruwariye is likely to miss Sunday’s game.

Oruwariye surprisingly showed up on the injury report Wednesday with a thumb injury. The injury apparently occured on the final drive of last Sunday’s win over the Arizona Cardinals, and Campbell added that surgery isn’t out of the question.

Oruwariye had his sixth interception of the season against Arizona, as he made a great break on a Kyler Murray pass with a big return to take back the momentum for Detroit after the offense turned the ball over. He is third in the league in interceptions, and he has started to get noticed more broadly for his breakthrough season.

Amani Oruwariye injury is yet another hit to Lions secondary

The Lions lost cornerback Jerry Jacobs, who proved to be a find as an undrafted rookie, to a torn ACL in Week 14. Injuries and COVID have combined to thin the secondary, though some players are lined up to come back this week after being on the virus list (Tracy Walker, Nickell Robey-Coleman). Will Harris, who performed very well against Arizona after being pressed into duty as a full-time outside corner, is likely to keep that role for at least another week.

In Oruwariye’s place if he indeed doesn’t play, rookie Ifeatu Melifonwu is lined up to make his second career start. He spent a big chunk of this season on IR with a quad injury after being injured in Week 2, and he has played 15 defensive snaps over the last two games.

Surgery would end Oruwariye’s season. For now, he’s just looking incredibly doubtful for Sunday pending Friday’s final injury report for the week.