In another long season for the Lions, Jerry Jacobs was becoming a good story. The rest of the season will continue without him.
Jacobs suffered a left ACL injury early in Detroit's Week 14 loss to Denver and will likely be out for at least nine months, Dan Campbell said Monday. It's a tough blow for the rookie cornerback who had risen from undrafted free agent to NFL starter in a few months.
So is it a tough blow for Detroit's defense. Jacobs was tied for second on the team with seven passes defended and was routinely drawing some of the toughest assignments in the secondary.
Again: a heck of a rise for a player who opted out midway through his final college season at Arkansas and then went undrafted this spring.
The injury happened when Jacobs was helping finish a tackle and the helmet of teammate Will Harris slammed into the side of Jacobs' left knee.
"It pains me to announce that I have suffered an ACL injury," Jacobs wrote Monday on Twitter. "This is a minor setback for a major comeback. I can't wait to get back on the field and play for the best fans in the NFL. Tough times don't last. Tough people do."
"You feel awful, because he's improved so much, particularly from the spring to where he's been playing lately," said Campbell. "You hate it for him. You don't want any of your guys to get hurt, particularly one of these long-term injuries. And the other thing is, I hate that it happened now, in December. That's probably a nine-month injury, somewhere in there.
"But the good news is, it's repairable. He'll work at it, he'll come back and he'll be better than he was."