From when he stepped into the starting lineup permanently in Week 14 last season, all the way through the playoffs, Ifeatu Melifonwu was one of the best players on the Detroit Lions' defense and one of the top-performing safeties in the entire league.
Unfortunately, injuries have been a big part of Melifonwu's NFL career so far. Two weeks into his fourth season he has missed 19 total games, and he'll make it 20 after being ruled out for Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals with an ankle injury.
After the preseason finale in August, head coach Dan Campbell offered a vague mention of an injury Melifonwu was dealing with.
"Not sure. He’s been out for a little while. Nothing that we feel like is long-term, yet it’s continuing to take a little while. So I’m not too sure on that one. I don’t know when we’ll have him back or if he’ll be back what that timeline is.”
We of course now know it's an ankle injury, though a subsequent report suggested it's an Achilles' issue. Melifonwu has not practiced at all the last two weeks, confirming Campbell's prior assertion about the injury being "slow-healing".
Dan Campbell acknowledged it's too late to put Ifeatu Melifonwu on IR
The Lions slow-play it when it comes to players coming back from significant injuries, which is fine. But it's fair to say Melifonwu should be considered very questionable for Week 4 against the Seattle Seahawks, even with an extra day between games since it's a Monday night game. Four missed games is the minimum stay when a player is placed on IR.
On Friday, Campbell was asked about Melifonwu being an IR candidate.
"Yeah, Brad (Holmes) and I have talked about that,” Campbell said. “He’s progressing, he really is. He’s progressing. I would say no. Now, that can change depending on if something happens here with everything else, the rest of the roster. But, right now, I don’t feel that way and he is getting better.”
In the locker room on Friday (h/t to 97.1 The Ticket), Melifonwu would not put a target date on his return. He did acknowledge natural frustration and trying to get back "as soon as possible."
At this point, putting Melifonwu on IR would cost him a minimum four more games. It also looks like no better than a coin-flip that he'll play in Week 4, and thus he'd miss the first four games of the season. And if he is able to play against the Seahawks, it's fair to assume he'll be on some sort of snap count and the Lions opted not to do that with DJ Reader in Week 1.
Public optimism and general vagueness when it comes to injury recoveries is automatic. But there's no hiding that Melifonwu has basically not practiced going back more than a month.
Putting Melifonwu on IR after roster cuts would not have cost him the entire season, and a Week 5 bye buys him extra recovery time. Without realizing it, Campbell basically admitted it's too late to do what should have been done right off the bat, and a roster spot is being filled with a player who is too injured to be even close to playing right now.