The Detroit Lions looked every bit the legitimate Super Bowl contenders they’ve been the last two seasons during a 44-22 blowout road victory over the Washington Commanders in Week 10, in which head coach Dan Campbell assumed offensive play-calling duties from the sideline.
Three days later, the Lions shared good news with the fanbase on the defensive side of the football, as the team opened the 21-day practice windows for starting cornerback DJ Reed and starting defensive end Marcus Davenport. Both players practiced “in a limited capacity” on Wednesday, per NFL.com.
Reed severely strained his hamstring in October, an injury that he admitted felt in the moment as though it might end his season. Instead, he has a chance to be back for a showdown against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, one of the NFC elites and the reigning Super Bowl champions. If Reed can’t get back on the field this weekend, he is likely to return either against the New York Giants in Week 12 or the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving Day.
Davenport sustained a pectoral strain in Week 2 and has been sidelined since. He missed almost the entire 2024 campaign, his first with the Lions, after an elbow injury in Week 2 of last season. The defensive end played in just four games with the Minnesota Vikings the year prior, also due to injury concerns.
DJ Reed, Lions’ Best Outside Cornerback, Returns to Practice
GettyDetroit Lions cornerback DJ Reed.
Once healthy, Reed will almost certainly step back into the role of starting outside cornerback in Detroit’s secondary, as he is the class of that position on the roster.
The Lions have dealt with numerous absences throughout the unit, including multiple weeks missed by second-year defensive back Terrion Arnold due to a shoulder issue he suffered in October. Arnold has since returned and played in each of the past two games.
Star safety Brian Branch also missed a game due to an NFL suspension for his conduct following a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on October 13. Detroit ranks 12th in the league in pass defense, affording opponents 199.7 air yards per contest. The Lions will presumably improve upon that figure with the return of Reed to the starting lineup in the coming days or weeks.
Lions Edge Rush Will Look More Complete With Return of Marcus Davenport, Ahmed Hassanein to Roster
GettyDefensive end Marcus Davenport of the Detroit Lions.
Davenport’s addition back into the rotation will likely prove less impactful than Reed’s return, though Detroit’s pass rush does lack a measure of depth that Davenport can provide.
Superstar edge-rusher Aidan Hutchinson leads the team with seven sacks on the season, and Davenport began the year as the starting defensive end on the opposite side of the line. But in Davenport’s absence, Al-Quadin Muhammad has produced six sacks through nine contests in by far the best campaign of his eight-year professional career.
There is no reason the Lions should shuffle Muhammad back into a reserve role considering the production he’s provided halfway through the year, so Davenport is likely to slot in as a backup to finish out the final season of his contract in Detroit, whenever he proves healthy enough to play in a regular game again.
Another measure the Lions took recently to address their depth issues off the edge was to ink rookie pass-rusher Ahmed Hassanein back to the practice squad. The Lions drafted Hassanein in the sixth round back in April, but he suffered an injury near the end of the summer.
Detroit released him and paid out an injury settlement with the intention of bringing Hassanein back once healthy. Thus, while the Lions didn’t make any splash moves at the position ahead of the trade deadline, as some analysts thought they might, Detroit’s group of edge-rushers should look considerably more complete if, and when, Davenport and Hassanein play their way back into the rotation.
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