Thursday injury report: Trey Flowers misses second consecutive practice

Flowers misses practice again, Lions hoping to get him ready by Sunday.

After a walkthrough on Wednesday, the Detroit Lions were back on the practice field on Thursday, preparing for a Week 3 matchup with the Baltimore Ravens. But before the action began, the Lions made a few notable roster moves.

Let’s take a closer look at what happened on Thursday.

Injured Reserve/COVID-19 list

• WR Tyrell Williams (concussion)
• K Austin Seibert (COVID-19 list)

On Wednesday, coach Dan Campbell noted that he was not expecting Williams to be available for this weekend’s game, indicating his concussion was significant. So, it’s not overly surprising that Williams landed on injured reserve. He won’t be eligible to return to the roster until Week 6, but with how unpredictable brain injuries are, it’s difficult to say when he will be ready to return to action.

In a corresponding move, the Lions signed linebacker/special teamer Josh Woods off the Chicago Bears practice squad.

Seibert’s situation is also unclear at this time. Because we don’t know if he is vaccinated, tested positive, or had a close contact exposure, the length of time he will have to miss has a ranging timetable. For a refresher on he the COVID-19 protocols work, get up to date with Jeremy Reisman’s piece: 2021 NFL COVID-19 protocols, rules: Differences between vaccinated, unvaccinated players.

No practice on Thursday

• LB Jamie Collins (not injury related)
• EDGE Trey Flowers (shoulder/knee)

Ahead of Thursday’s practice, Campbell addressed the fact that Collins would not be in the building while the team explores their options for trading him. We may have seen the last of him in Detroit.

With regards to Flowers, Campbell noted that they needed more time to assess his health status and were hoping to learn more soon.

“We’re just going to assess it towards the end of this week, see if we can get him back,” Campbell said. “I don’t see him practicing today, continue to rehab, he’ll be getting the mental work and we’ll see where he’s at tomorrow.”

If Flowers is unable to play, the Lions have been holding a weekly competition among the reserve EDGE players—Charles Harris, Julian Okwara, and Austin Bryant—for playing time, and the winner would likely assume a starting role, with the other two coming off the bench.

Limited practice

• RB D’Andre Swift (groin)
• WR Kalif Raymond (thigh)
• DL Michael Brockers (shoulder)
• EDGE Romeo Okwara (shoulder)
• EDGE Julian Okwara (neck) — Not listed on Wednesday injury report

Mid-week injuries are always concerning, but with yesterday being a walkthrough it’s hard to tell if Julian Okwara’s injury happened today at practice or if it was a problem before but the team believed he was past it. We will know more tomorrow.

Okwara’s brother Romeo, along with Swift, Raymond, and Brockers were limited as expected, but based on their availability in last week’s game, it shouldn’t be overly concerning at this time.

Full practice

• DL Kevin Strong (concussion)

Strong getting in a full practice is a good indicator he is close to clearing the NFL’s concussion protocols. The last major step would be getting clearance from a doctor outside the organization to clear him for a return to action.