On Saturday, the Indianapolis Colts announced that they have activated defensive end Tyquan Lewis from injured reserve. He will, however, remain questionable for Sunday’s game with the Lions.
The corresponding roster move that was made by the Colts to make room for Lewis on the 53-man roster was waiving defensive end Genard Avery.
Lewis sustained an elbow injury in the Colts’ Week 4 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The injury did require surgery and Indianapolis placed Lewis on injured reserve.
Lewis was designated to return from injured reserve on Wednesday and was a full participant in all three practices this week.
Prior to the injury, Lewis was the starting defensive end opposite of Kwity Paye, often seeing the field on early downs or obvious running situations.
Through four games, Lewis’ 12 pressures were the most on the team and still as we enter Week 12, Lewis ranks fifth among all defensive ends in PFF’s run-stop rate metric.
If Lewis is available, as the game unfolds we will have to see what his workload looks like in his first game back but once back in the mix, this is the healthiest that the Colts’ defensive front will be since the start of the season.
Lewis’ presence in the run game would be very welcomed this week against the dynamic Detroit running back duo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. As a team, the Lions are averaging 5.0 yards per carry this season.
Detroit has the highest-scoring offense in football, and if there is going to be any sort of chance of the Colts limiting their production, it has to start with the run game and not letting the Lions’ offense live ahead of the sticks where they then have all the advantage.