How the Lions can survive losses of Marcus Davenport and Derrick Barnes
Allen Park — Coming off a good win over the Arizona Cardinals Sunday, coach Dan Campbell spoke with an uncharacteristically somber tone during his Monday afternoon recap press conference. The reason was clear from the jump as he opened the session with some tough-to-stomach injury updates.
Confirming an NFL Network report from earlier in the day, defensive end Marcus Davenport is done for the year. Additionally, assessment is ongoing with linebacker Derrick Barnes' knee, but he’s going to be “down for a little while,” according to Campbell.
Does that mean an injured reserve stint, which would put Barnes on the shelf a minimum of four games? The coach said the team is waiting on additional medical opinions before making that decision. What’s clear is at least one ligament was damaged and the team wants to see if it can heal on its own before considering surgery, which would likely extend the player’s recovery timetable.
“Can these ligaments scar in, everything will be good and just needs time?” Campbell said. “We know he's going to be down for a little while while the knee heals. And once it heals, is it going to need surgery?”
If there’s a silver lining, that’s the extent of significant damage from a game where several players exited action with ailments. The other concerns are day-to-day more than long-term issues. That includes defensive tackle Alim McNeill, who left with a shoulder injury late in the first half and didn’t return, and tight end Sam LaPorta, who battled an ankle sprain that had him in and out of the lineup in the second half. Things are a little less clear with safety Brian Branch, just because of the nature of his injury. He’s starting this week in concussion protocol and will have to clear all the stages if he’s going to get back for Monday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks.
Those relative positives aside, the Lions now have to replace two key cogs in their surging defense. Davenport, the former first-round pick had nicely filled a hole in the lineup as a pocket-crushing defensive end opposite Aidan Hutchinson, logging more than 40 snaps in his first two starts with the Lions.
As for Barnes, he has developed into a Swiss Army knife for defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, playing more than 80% of the snaps the first two games, splitting his playing time between the edge of the defensive line, as a stack linebacker, and even a healthy amount of reps in the slot.
So how will the Lions shuffle the deck to compensate for the injuries? Let’s start up front, where the team previously lost one of its top backup defensive ends, John Cominsky, to a training camp injury. He remains a candidate to return this season, but that’s still a ways off, according to Campbell.