The Lions have so many players on the shelf, there's probably not room for an elf. They'll have to make space for Alex Anzalone.
Detroit's starting middle linebacker is done for the season after injuring his shoulder in Sunday's win over the Cardinals, Dan Campbell announced Monday. Anzalone would be the Lions' fifth defensive starter on injured reserve, to say nothing of the offensive starters on injured reserve, to say nothing of all the players in COVID-19 protocol.
Good news is, Campbell said Anzalone's injury doesn't appear to be overly serious.
"We don't believe this is some long-term issue," said Campbell. "We just know with three games left, that will probably knock him out for the season."
Anzalone is tied for the team lead in tackles with safety Tracy Walker, who missed the last two games in COVID protocol. He'll be a free agent after this season and Campbell has expressed his interest in bringing Anzalone back. He's an aggressive, high-energy player in the middle of Detroit's defense.
"He's been rock solid, man," Campbell said. He's one of those guys, he's steady as a rock. He's really our quarterback on defense, so (his absence) will hurt. But look, we've had to adapt all year and so here we are again."
The Lions will lean heavily on Jalen Reeves-Maybin, who took over for Anzalone as the team's MIKE linebacker against the Cardinals, for the rest of the season. Rookie Derrick Barnes will likely see a bigger role as well.
On the bright side, Campbell said the Lions are planning to work D'Andre Swift back into practice this week. The team's top offensive weapon hasn't played since suffering a shoulder injury of his own on Thanksgiving.
"We're still taking this week to week, day to day," Campbell said. "I know as of this morning, he's better than he felt last week. He feels better than he did Saturday when we worked with him. So our plan is to work him back into practice this week and see how he feels."