Detroit Lions news: Ben Johnson, Duce Staley, Zach Ertz, statistical edges vs. 49ers?

Zach Ertz couldn't turn down joining the Lions

Tying Zach Ertz to the Lions came quickly when it looked like Sam LaPorta would miss some time with the knee injury he suffered in the regular season. LaPorta did not miss any games, but the forearm injury No. 2 tight end Brock Wright suffered in the Divisional Round drove the move to add Ertz to the practice squad this week.

It's unclear if Ertz will play on Sunday against the 49ers, but in the locker room after his first practice as a Lion on Wednesday he talked about the opportunity in Detroit. He said he had talked to a lot of teams over the last few weeks, and with a newborn baby at home it was going to have to be the right opportunity if he was going to leave.

"I didn’t want to rush into anything,” Ertz told the media on Wednesday. “I had an injury earlier in the year, so I really was waiting to get fully healthy and feel like myself. I had the ACL last year, so it really was a great opportunity to get back fully healthy and feel back to myself. Obviously (I have) my wife at home, a little boy at home, so I wanted the right opportunity if I was going to leave at this point in the year.”

"Being here with these guys, learning from a head coach that was a tight end was something I couldn’t turn down,”

Ertz acknowledged he has not been promised anything, as Dan Campbell had said he realizes.