Dan Campbell lays out how he’s changing Lions practices to help prevent more injuries

Detroit head coach Dan Campbell lays out how he’s changing Lions practices to help prevent more injuries

Injuries have been a chronic storyline for the 2022 Detroit Lions. With five players on injured reserve and five more yet to play due to injuries that date back before training camp, plus a weekly list of walking wounded practice statuses.

Some of those are injuries that cannot be avoided as part of playing football, like John Cominsky injuring his thumb or broken bones. But the rash of major soft tissue injuries, such as the Achilles tear to standout safety Tracy Walker or the groin problem that has ailed top RB D’Andre Swift for weeks, is something that the team is trying to resolve.

To that end, head coach Dan Campbell has worked with the training staff and team doctors to help devise more preventative measures for the Lions’ practices. It was one of the points of emphasis for change during the team’s bye week in Week 6.

Campbell talked about the injury issue and how the Lions are changing things up in pretty general terms prior to Monday’s session.

“Look, everything that we’ve got in regards to our numbers and what we look at, I mean it’s – there’s nothing that I can say would pinpoint – there’s what we’re doing, what we’re not doing.

I know this, we’re going to get more intensity and less volume. And so, that’s one little tweak that I hope helps us a little bit. There again, we won’t be out there for two hours, but yet, man, the time that we are out there, we should be flying around, and see if that helps us a little bit.”

The Lions are off on Tuesday before starting practices for the Week 7 trip to Dallas on Wednesday.

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Lions injury report: 3 players out, 5 more limited as team prepares for first game

Lions injury report: 3 players out, 5 more limited in practice as Detroit prepares for Week 1

The Detroit Lions have released their first injury report of the 2022 season while just days away from their first regular season matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Did not practice: DL John Cominsky (illness), OL Tommy Kraemer (back), DL Levi Onwuzurike (back)

While three players sat out of Wednesday’s practice, only one is of real concern at the moment.

Reserve offensive lineman Tommy Kraemer is currently held out of practice due to a back injury. This injury comes as starting right guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai was recently placed on injured reserve.

Kraemer is one of a few players who could fill in at right guard, especially since he did so several times last season as an undrafted rookie. He played well enough to stick around again this season and the coaches seem to have faith in the young versatile lineman. If this back injury is serious enough to hold him out, the team may have to rely on Logan Stenberg in his place.

Onwuzurike’s injury is old news and even coach Dan Campbell knows that it will take some time for him to be healthy. That said, it does bring up some concerns about the former second-round pick and his availability on game days.

Cominsky missed practice due to an illness and should be ready to go for Sunday, where he will surely be in the interior defensive line rotation.

Limited practice: LB Chris Board (knee), DB Ifeatu Melifonwu (hamstring), EDGE Julian Okwara (hamstring), OL Frank Ragnow (groin), K Austin Seibert (right groin)

While there’s no need to sound the alarms just yet, it is concerning that several of Detroit’s starters are already being limited in practice due to injuries.

To add on to the aforementioned injury to Vaitai, starting center Frank Ragnow is dealing with a groin injury at the moment. The former Pro Bowler missed a majority of games last season due to a toe injury and is now being held back by a groin issue. He isn’t ruled out for Sunday’s game, but the Lions can rest easy knowing they have reliable backup Evan Brown ready to go if needed.

Seibert’s groin injury comes after he too missed a large chunk of the 2021 season. While it hasn’t been reported on before, his injury may explain why the Lions re-signed Aldrick Rosas to the practice squad last week.

Linebacker Chris Board is dealing with a recent knee injury, but his limited status provides some hope that it isn’t too serious. Board should be in line for some reps at inside linebacker while playing predominantly on special teams.

Melifonwu and Okwara’s names appearing on this list inspire more optimism than concern as the two have missed many practices throughout camp and the preseason. This was Melifonwu’s first practice back in weeks and he may be sidelined for the game against Philadelphia. Okwara has been back at practice for a week now and is looking more and more likely to see the field in a limited capacity this Sunday.

Watch: Breakdown of Lions OTAs live from Allen Park

Our Jeff Risdon offers up his thoughts immediately after practice

In lieu of a formal podcast this week at the Detroit Lions Podcast, we decided to change things up a bit. I recorded a quick-hit notebook live from Lions headquarters immediately following Thursday’s practice session that wrapped the first week of OTAs.

These were my initial impressions of the team Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes have assembled, with a focus on the physical characteristics since the action on the field was pretty light.

We plan on doing more of this as the offseason progresses. Thanks for watching!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX6KUrWAzjs