Lions Sign Robert Malone, Put Jason Fox On Injured Reserve

by Sean Yuille on Nov 11, 2011 11:13 AM EST in Detroit Lions News

The Detroit Lions just announced that they have signed punter Robert Malone. To make room on the roster for him, offensive tackle Jason Fox was placed on injured reserve.

Malone is a second-year player from Fresno State. He entered the league a year ago as an undrafted free agent and appeared in 12 games for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, averaging 41.5 yards per punt.

With starting punter Ryan Donahue dealing with a quad injury, it was necessary for the Lions to sign someone else for Sunday. Donahue got hurt trying to kick earlier this week when it was unclear if Jason Hanson will be ready to go on Sunday. It now looks like Hanson will play, but now Donahue could be out (at least as the punter; he could potentially still be the holder).

Fox hasn't played at all this year after breaking his foot in training camp. He took a while to recover from the injury, and Dave Birkett reports that Fox was limping at practice yesterday. Perhaps he reinjured his foot, or perhaps the Lions simply needed to clear a roster spot and it was clear Fox wouldn't be on the field in the near future. In any case, his season is over.

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yikes

29th in avg distance last year at 41.5.

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by nuftjedi on Nov 11, 2011 11:29 AM EST reply actions

Donahue is only averaging

42.7… So let’s see how he does this week.

by Dan Watson on Nov 11, 2011 11:51 AM EST via iPhone app reply actions

very true.

I guess this guy outkicked Dodge yesterday since Dodge had a better average last year.

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by nuftjedi on Nov 11, 2011 1:31 PM EST up reply actions

I'd have rather not had Dodge.

I mean, all things being equal (roughly), I’d rather take the guy who doesn’t have the stigma of being blown up on Sports Center on the play of the year.

"You've got to respect your opponent, no matter who it is. You respect him best by going out there and beating him up." - Calvin Johnson

by Mavyrk on Nov 11, 2011 8:31 PM EST up reply actions

This is really unfortunate.

I had high hopes for Fox and thought he might be a Mayhew jem. While I still believe that he could pan out into an average or even good LT, we cannot afford to wait much longer. Backus certainly isn’t getting any younger and he appears to me to have regressed a bit from last year (If I am wrong please correct me because I’m definitely not an OL expert). We may need to go after a LT high in next years draft or the drean situation would be to trade for Jake Long or sign him as a FA in 2013.

by NewSchoolLionFan on Nov 11, 2011 11:55 AM EST reply actions

Rather have Karl Malone sheesh

Bummed about Jason though. He has to get healthy for next year

"Life doesn't run away from nobody. Life runs at people." - Smokin Joe Frazier
PCP 4 LIFE

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by The Profiler on Nov 11, 2011 12:02 PM EST reply actions

I figured something was still up with his damn foot

when they signed Davis. Hope Fox can actually play for us next year.

by LionsD on Nov 11, 2011 12:03 PM EST reply actions

nice waste of a roster spot

It took 1/2 season and the bye week to figure that out? I know some of the “Lions never make a mistake” types will attempt to teach me about how this happens all of the time, but we could have used that spot for quite a few different things over the first 1/2 season.

After watching the Oakland and SD punters last night averaging 48 and 52 ypp, I think that we could improve that area too!

Man I hope this punting weakness doesn’t come back to hurt us this weekend and for the rest of the year!

GO LIONS!!!

by Dave Marshall on Nov 11, 2011 12:05 PM EST reply actions

sometimes you just don't know how an injury will heal over time

If, at the beginning of the season, there appeared to be a chance Jason Fox could heal up heading into the latter half of the season, then it was certainly worth keeping him on the roster to see if that could work out. As Fox didn’t heal as fast as they hoped, there came a point where putting him on the IR was the best move.

Sometimes it’s not better to risk IR-ing a developmental guy too early when he could come back and contribute later in the season, rather than IR-ing him too late when you could have used the roster spot for something else. Hindsight is 20/20.

Hey that's a timeout, I can play right? yeah, get me--get the F-- Help me up...I can throw the ball if you need me to throw the ball...

by n4ry4 on Nov 11, 2011 2:45 PM EST up reply actions

Devin Hester

I’m only gonna say it once…hopefully I don’t hear it a bunch

"Life doesn't run away from nobody. Life runs at people." - Smokin Joe Frazier
PCP 4 LIFE

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by The Profiler on Nov 11, 2011 12:11 PM EST reply actions

Hang time baby!

We need some good coverage on Hester. Lotta hang time needed.

by Parrothead Mike on Nov 11, 2011 12:16 PM EST up reply actions

hester

may be limping around as he is missing practices with an injury. hopefully davis can get him

by Gentry on Nov 11, 2011 12:23 PM EST up reply actions

I know the solution

Kick the freaking ball out of bounds!

by vanman on Nov 11, 2011 2:00 PM EST up reply actions

I think the best solution is

Never need to punt!

by Dave Marshall on Nov 11, 2011 12:17 PM EST reply actions

I think Jason Fox missed his window of opportunity with the Lions

I guess it’s not his fault that he was hurt, but you have to figure that in the offseason through draft or FA the Lions are going to let Backus go or sign him to the vet min as a backup/mentor and find someone else to start at LT, which probably means that Fox is the odd man out.

Formerly WestSideLionsFan. Fan of all Detroit sports teams.

by WalterM on Nov 11, 2011 1:57 PM EST reply actions

I think Hilliard is still in the mix there

by CR on Nov 11, 2011 2:01 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah it could be

He’s a solid back-up at worst, and with time, maybe he can develop into a good starting OT for us.

Formerly WestSideLionsFan. Fan of all Detroit sports teams.

by WalterM on Nov 11, 2011 2:04 PM EST up reply actions

Hilliard is OK at RT. At LT he pretty much sucked in preseason.

No slogans. Just win!!!

by drgarnett on Nov 11, 2011 2:54 PM EST up reply actions

Are we giving up on Culbreath so soon?

"You've got to respect your opponent, no matter who it is. You respect him best by going out there and beating him up." - Calvin Johnson

by Mavyrk on Nov 11, 2011 8:32 PM EST up reply actions

i'm intrigued

but I don’t think drafting a T that is ready to play is a bad idea. Culbreath most likely needs some time to develop. Get someone polished that can replace Backus and then see if Johnny can push Gosder in the next two years.

We need to get better on the OLine and every lineman that is on the roster isn’t a guarantee to pan out for us…

by freywagg on Nov 11, 2011 8:47 PM EST up reply actions

I'm beginning to wonder if Jason Fox actually exists

I’m thinking he’s just a myth like the sasquach.

"Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live it's whole life believing that it is stupid"
-Albert Einstein

by UndaDawg on Nov 11, 2011 2:27 PM EST reply actions 3 recs