At his Monday afternoon press conference, Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia announced that the team is placing EDGE Trey Flowers on short-term injured reserve, meaning the soonest he can re-join the team will be in Week 12.
As noted in this week’s snap count review, Flowers looked like he had potentially injured his right hand/arm/shoulder area and it was the likely catalyst in him having a lower than normal amount of snaps against the Colts.
Flowers had been dealing with a previous wrist injury the week prior, but Patricia confirmed today that it was a new injury that happened in yesterday’s game.
Now the Lions have three of their five EDGE players out with injuries: Flowers is joining Julian Okwara on IR — who can return after Week 9 — and Austin Bryant is still on the PUP list, but eligible to return at any time.
And now the move to trade for Everson Griffen, which was originally viewed as a luxury addition, suddenly looks like a critical decision. He has still not officially joined the team, as he is moving through the onboarding process, but when he does — which happen as early as today — he should jump right into a pivotal role.
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When the Lions enter Week 9, it will be with Romeo Okwara in line to start, Griffen headed for a heavy rotational role, and if either of those two get injured they would have to lean on linebackers to fill the void.
One positive note, when Griffen does return, the placing of Flowers on injured reserve will create an opening on the 53-man roster, and Griffen can move onto the roster without another move needing to be made.