<\/p>\n
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\u2019s new injury\u2014listed as a finger\u2014is serious enough to hold him out for a significant amount of time.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had something come up and he\u2019s not\u2014he won\u2019t be ready for a while,\u201d Campbell said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a different injury, so now it falls under a whole another deal. It\u2019s like a reset,\u201d Campbell said.<\/p>\n
At this point, it\u2019s unclear what those rules are, and they\u2019re 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\u2019s entirely possible the Lions activate him only to immediately place him on injured reserve again\u2014which would mean he\u2019d miss another four games minimum. Regardless, it appears it\u2019ll be some time before we see Melifonwu take the field, if he does at all this season.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s another tough blow to Detroit\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s particularly bad timing, too, as Melifonwu seemed perfect to fill the role of a third linebacker for Detroit\u2019s defense now that Alex Anzalone is expected to miss six-to-eight weeks with a broken forearm.<\/p>\n
Melifonwu is on the final year of his rookie deal, and if he can\u2019t make it back on the field this season, it\u2019s entirely possible he has already played his last game as a Detroit Lion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
More bad injury news for the Lions: Safety Ifeatu Melifonwu has a new injury that will hold him out for \u2018a while.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-detroit-lions"],"yoast_head":"\n