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The theme of last year’s Detroit Lions season was injuries, specifically on defense. Dan Campbell’s Lions were one of the best teams in the NFL as they finished in first place in the NFC, but their season ultimately came to a close because they weren’t stout enough defensively. The Lions are hoping to avoid the injury bug this season, but there has already been some concerning injury news in Detroit during training camp. One player who has suffered an injury already is cornerback Ennis Rakestraw Jr.
Ennis Rakestraw Jr. injured his shoulder during practice on Saturday, and Dan Campell provided an update on him on Monday. It doesn’t sound too good.
“I think it’s going to be a while,” Campbell said, according to a post from Tim Twentyman.
That’s not what Lions fans want to hear. It isn’t the clearest of injury updates, but it isn’t one that sounds very promising for Detroit. Who knows how long “a while” is, but the good news is that there is still over a month before the Lions open up the regular season, so that gives Rakestraw some time to recover.
Rakestraw was selected by the Lions in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft after playing football at Missouri in college. He was the 61st overall pick in the draft, and he ended up playing in eight games last season for Detroit. He finished with six total tackles on the season.
The Lions opened up preseason play last week against the Los Angeles Chargers in the Hall of Fame Game. Rakestraw did compete in that game before suffering the shoulder injury on Saturday during practice.
Ennis Rakestraw Jr. isn’t a key player defensively by any means, but after what happened to Dan Campbell and the Lions defensively last year, seeing any player go down with an injury in August is concerning. Detroit went 15-2 last year and earned the top seed in the NFC, but it couldn’t get past the first round of the playoffs because of defensive injuries. The Lions need all hands on deck this season.
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