In my Detroit Lions 2024 Organized Team Activities (OTA) preview, the No. 1 storyline to watch was injury news of several Lions players. These set of practices—plus media sessions with coaches—are good opportunities to check in where players like Taylor Decker, Derrick Barnes, Brian Branch, DJ Reader, Kerby Joseph, and Emmanuel Moseley are in their recovery.
Day 1 of Lions OTAs is in the books, but with the first practice being behind held behind closed doors, there wasn’t much to learn. That is, until the Lions dropped a photo gallery of Tuesday’s practice. While there isn’t too much information out there, one photograph revealed that linebacker Derrick Barnes was out there participating.
Barnes suffered a knee injury just a few plays into the Lions’ NFC Championship Game against the San Francisco 49ers. While he tried valiantly to come back in, he remained sideliend for the entire game.
Since then, we had not known the nature of his injury, only that Barnes himself—in the minutes after the game—believed he had avoided a torn ACL.
“I think I avoided that for sure,” Barnes said,
Last year, Barnes was one of the more pleasant surprises on the roster. After spending the first two years of his professional career mostly as a rotational player, Barnes earned a starting role over first-round pick Jack Campbell and thrived in the position. He tallied a career high 81 tackles and five tackles for loss, and had arguably the biggest play of the Lions season—picking off Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield to send Detroit to the aforementioned NFC Championship Game.
As for the other players mentioned above who are returning from injury, none were spotted in the Lions’ Day 1 photo gallery. However, we should get some clarity on their status later in the week when practice opens to the media and coach Dan Campbell is expected to speak.
Speaking of Campbell, he also appeared in the photo gallery. The Lions coach missed rookie minicamp due to a personal matter, but quickly returned to the team for offseason workouts and now OTAs.
Christine Lake is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. With an extensive background in sports journalism, he covers everything from major league championships to grassroots sports events. When she’s not on the field or at the stadium, you’ll find Christine coaching youth sports teams.
