Lions cornerback Emmanuel Moseley progressing in ACL recovery to start minicamp

Part of the Detroit Lions' secondary overhaul in free agency, Emmanuel Moseley took a notable step in his ACL recovery on the first day of mandatory minicamp.

After signing cornerback Cameron Sutton in free agency, the Detroit Lions took a flier on his college teammate Emmanuel Moseley as they continued the overhaul of their secondary. Coming off a torn ACL playing with the San Francisco 49ers last October, Moseley came aboard on a reasonable one-year deal worth "up to" $6 million.

At the announcement of his signing, Moseley offered a promising update on his recovery. But the first real test was lined up to be OTAs and minicamp, even in a no-pads, no-contact setting. Being able to take the field for drills, and being able move reasonably well or not if /when he did, was going to be on display.

The Lions started their three days of mandatory minicamp on Tuesday. A lot of players did not practice, due to minor injuries or whatever. But in his observations from Day 1 of minicamp, Jeremy Reisman of Pride of Detroit devoted a fair amount of space to Moseley.

"Emmanuel Moseley has consistently been in the fray doing mental reps since the start of offseason workouts, but this was the most I’ve seen him get physically involved. He went through some walkthrough activity with the second team (Jerry Jacobs remains with the ones) and even was moving around at a fairly good pace when practice increased its speed. He’s still technically sitting out of almost every drill, but he’s getting close, despite the large brace over his knee."

Lions cornerback Emmanuel Moseley takes notable step in recovery from torn ACL

Jeff Risdon of Lions Wire and the Detroit Lions Podcast had a brief observation about Moseley on Tuesday too.

It's hard to take a lot of substance from anything that happens without pads on. But Moseley being on the practice field in any capacity, and apparently moving well doing what he did, is a good sign. It's a sign he'll be somewhere close to full strength by the start of training camp, and almost surely ready to play Week 1.