More bad Detroit Lions injury news came to light on Monday afternoon. During his day-after press conference, coach Dan Campbell noted that safety Ifeatu Melifonwu’s new injury—listed as a finger—is serious enough to hold him out for a significant amount of time.
“He had something come up and he’s not—he won’t be ready for a while,” Campbell said.
Melifonwu had returned to practice a few weeks ago, and was in the middle of his 21-day evaluation window for an ankle injury suffered at the beginning of the season. Since they started his evaluation period, the Lions had a deadline to activate him to the 53-man roster by November 27 or shut him down for the season. However, because Melifonwu has a new finger injury, Campbell said the rules are a little different and he could potentially return beyond that evaluation window.
“This is a different injury, so now it falls under a whole another deal. It’s like a reset,” Campbell said.
At this point, it’s unclear what those rules are, and they’re not readily available to the public. Although it is worth pointing out that a player can be activated from injured reserve twice in a season. So it’s entirely possible the Lions activate him only to immediately place him on injured reserve again—which would mean he’d miss another four games minimum. Regardless, it appears it’ll be some time before we see Melifonwu take the field, if he does at all this season.
It’s another tough blow to Detroit’s 2021 third-round pick. Melifonwu has battled injury for his entire career, playing in just 34 games across three-and-a-half seasons (starting 11 games). He finished the 2023 season as an integral part of Detroit defense, and was hoping to build on that in Year 4.
It’s particularly bad timing, too, as Melifonwu seemed perfect to fill the role of a third linebacker for Detroit’s defense now that Alex Anzalone is expected to miss six-to-eight weeks with a broken forearm.
Melifonwu is on the final year of his rookie deal, and if he can’t make it back on the field this season, it’s entirely possible he has already played his last game as a Detroit Lion.
