The Detroit Lions were back at work on Monday after having their bye in Week 5. An early bye of course comes with a long stretch after it, as the Lions will now play in 13 straight weeks without a break.
To some extent, the early bye was good for the Lions. They've dealt with a notable list of injuries early in the season. The list of injuries coming out of Week 3 was particularly long, but it was significantly narrowed when some were able to play in Week 4. Defensive end Marcus Davenport (elbow/triceps) and linebacker Derrick Barnes (knee) were placed on IR) after being injured in Week 3, with Davenport out for the season.
Center Frank Ragnow missed Week 4 due to a partially torn pectoral he suffered in Week 3, and safety Brian Branch was a late addition to the injury report due to an illness. Branch was in concussion protocol after his Week 3 injury, but head coach Dan Campbell said the illness was not related to the head injury.
Lions injury updates: Frank Ragnow, Brian Branch, Derrick Barnes
Campbell spoke to the media on Monday afternoon, and the notable injury updates were on the docket. The news is good on Ragnow and Branch.
"They were both out there practicing today," Campbell said. "So as of right now, they look good."
It's early in the week, but Ragnow and Branch being on the practice field in any capacity on Monday is great news.
Campbell had said that further testing on Barnes' injury was necessary before anything could be said with certainty about his return timeframe. It appears that testing has now been done, bringing an unfortunate update from Campbell on Monday.
“I think it's tough to say right now. I think we will be fortunate to get him at any point this year,” Campbell said. “I don’t want to say it’s not going to happen, but I think we would be pretty fortunate if it does.”
Barnes was having a nice season before being injured on a cut block from Cardinals' tight end Trey McBride.
Here's the play where Lions LB Derrick Barnes gets hit low and exits the game with a knee injury. Pretty unfortunate. #OnePride pic.twitter.com/Ul4w5IU23h
— Russell Brown (@RussNFLDraft) September 24, 2024
Barnes is also headed for free agency in 2025, so what now sounds like a season-ending injury is bad news for him on that front too. The Lions would surely like to bring him back if they can, but he's on a long list of players who are in line for contract extensions.
In terms of Barnes' absence for the rest of this season (again, deemed very likely by Campbell), the Lions are still deep at linebacker with Jack Campbell and Malcolm Rodriguez in line for bigger roles.