The Detroit Lions had an important but costly win over the Vikings on Sunday. Having righted the ship after three straight wins, the Lions feel much better about their chances of making a deep postseason run than they did a couple of weeks ago. But now they have a long list of injuries to think about.
On Wednesday, the Lions had a walkthrough instead of a full practice. This means that the designations on the injury report they released are estimates.
As expected, the Lions listed Jack Campbell, Cade Mays, DJ Reed, and DJ Wonnum as non-participants in practice. Campbell will obviously miss Sunday's game. Mays, Reed, and Wonnum should be considered unlikely to suit up against the Dolphins as well.
In addition, Brian Branch, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jacob Saylors, and Amen Ogbongbemiga were listed as limited participants. Kerby Joseph was also a limited participant, as he has yet to ramp up to 100% in practice despite getting his 21-day practice window activated.
This comes on the heels of rookie linebacker Jimmy Rolder landing on the injured reserve after the Vikings win. This created a need for more help at the linebacker spot, and the Lions addressed this need with roster moves on Wednesday.
Lions make a series of moves ahead of Week 9 vs. Dolphins
Detroit made official the already reported signing of KJ Britt from the Patriots' practice squad. The Lions also announced that they were signing LB Joe Bachie from the practice squad to the active roster. With the spot that opens up with Bachie's promotion, the Lions are signing another linebacker, Owen Pappoe.
Pappoe visited the Lions on Tuesday, and the former fifth-round pick will now join the Lions to be an emergency backup and provide special teams value when needed.
The same day the Lions placed Rolder on the IR list, they waived rookie safety Bishop Fitzgerald. After the return of Brian Branch and the looming season debut of Kerby Joseph, the Lions no longer needed the additional depth at safety. Plus, Fitzgerald has still not played for the Lions this season and was essentially a wasted roster spot.
That is how the Lions were able to create the roster spots to sign both Britt and Bachie. The two linebackers will presumably play limited defensive snaps for the Lions as they play on special teams almost exclusively. Instead, it will likely be Trevor Nowaske and Malcom Rodriguez, who will take on a larger role amid linebacker injuries.
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