The Detroit Lions (2-2) and Arizona Cardinals (1-3) declared their injury designations ahead of Sunday afternoon’s game in the desert.
While Lions safety Brian Branch looked good in practice this week, he will not play in Sunday’s game. Fans may not have to wait to see him there again.
Let’s take a look at Friday’s injury report and bring you up to date with what we know.
Note: Any changes from the most recent damage report will be in bold.
The injury report confirms what Lions coach Dan Campbell revealed when it comes to the return of Cade Mays and Brian Branch. Neither player is ready to play after just one week of practice, but the Lions are targeting the Packers game off the bye week for their return. Both will remain in Detroit during the bye to prepare their bodies for Week 7.
“They’re going to come here to continue to condition, prepare—as (many) football things as they can without the training staff,” Campbell said. “Then let’s let them go to Green Bay week. Let’s go after them, and then we’ll assess. Hopefully by midweek, we’ll have a good idea. We want to get them ready to go against Green Bay.”
Bartch will miss his third straight game. But the Lions chose not to place him on injured reserve, so it’s reasonable to believe he, too, could return after Detroit’s bye week. It will be interesting to see if he re-enters the competition for the starting left guard job or if Christian Mahogany has done enough to keep that role.
Ya-Sin was demoted from the starting lineup before suffering an injury on special teams last game. It was unclear how serious his injuries were.
Williams told the Detroit Free Press on Thursday that his leg injury was just a bruise and he should be fine against the Cardinals. A limited practice Thursday and Friday along with a questionable designation leaves the door open for him to miss the game, but all signs are positive for the Lions defensive tackle. And that’s good news, because Campbell sang his praises on Friday.
“He’s a great athlete, and he’s powerful. He’s very strong, and he really has a heightened awareness for football. His FBI [football intelligence] is up there,” Campbell said. “And so, when you combine all of that with a guy who’s going into his second year and just took off, he really took off at the end of the year, and he picked up where he left off, had a really good camp and four games in, he just kept going up.”
Not listed with damage designation
Wonnum has been battling a back injury for over a week, but it hasn’t affected his availability. Although he only played 36 snaps last week.