The Detroit Lions completed mandatory minicamp four weeks ago on Thursday, June 6, and held their final round of voluntary organized team activities (OTAs) from Monday, June 10, to Wednesday, June 12. The Lions are in the middle of a month off and have two more weeks to go until they report to training camp. Rookies report to camp on Saturday, July 20, while the veterans report on Tuesday, July 23.
Nine players, including their elite free agent acquisition, missed minicamp.
The Detroit Lions’ elite free agent acquisition missed mandatory minicamp
D.J. Reader suffered a torn quad in the Cincinnati Bengals’ Week 15 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. Reader is recovering from his quad injury and hasn’t participated in offseason workouts, including OTAs and mandatory minicamp. Because his injury occurred near the end of the 2023 season, his injury could trickle into training camp.
D.J. Reader could miss some time during training camp
Reader will likely miss the start of training camp, according to Dave Birkett of Detroit Free Press.
Dan Campbell gave an update on his injury.
“Yeah, I would say Reader would be the one,” Campbell said. “He’ll be a decision on, at what point will he be ready to start practicing? But, that’s not something that we’re caught off guard by. We knew this would take a minute here. I would anticipate everybody else to be pretty close to ready, if not it’s gonna be tight. It’ll be enough to where they’re gonna get a really good amount of training camp work. No, there’s nobody I’m really alarmed by. Reader is the one that’s probably gonna take a minute.”
The Lions expect him to make a full recovery before the start of the 2024 season.
Who filled in for the injured nose tackle?
Levi Onwuzurike filled in for the injured Reader. Onwuzurike had a solid performance throughout offseason workouts.
He enters his fourth year and is trying to carve out a role on the defense after battling a back injury in 2022, which caused him to miss all of the 2022 season and later undergo spinal fusion surgery in October. The Lions wanted to play it safe, and he was limited to ten games in 2023.
Now that he’s healthy, he will fight for playing time in 2024.
