With no point in coming back for the final two games remaining this season, wide receiver Roy Williams was placed on injured reserve today. Williams suffered a knee injury against the Vikings after having a great start to the game and his return this season was iffy until today. Had a playoff spot been on the line against Green Bay next week, there would have been a good chance Roy got back on the field since due to the importance of a game like that. We all know now, though, that a playoff spot won't be on the line, so not wanting to risk any further injury, the Lions shut down Roy for the rest of the year.
Brandon Middleton was already signed after Roy was injured to add an extra receiver to the roster. Middleton actually got a lot of playing time against San Diego and caught his first touchdown pass. To replace the void now created by Roy heading to the IR, the Lions signed Buster Davis to the active roster from the practice squad. Davis was a third-round pick for the Cardinals in this year's draft, but was released during the round of final cuts before the season started.
The Lions added him to the practice squad before the season began but really there were no indications he would get to play at all this year. With that in mind, this move could mean two things. First, it could just be Rod Marinelli giving a practice squad player a chance to gain in-game experience since these final two games don't have playoff implications. If not just getting Davis experience, this could mean that Paris Lenon and Teddy Lehman are on their way out. Neither have been good at all at middle linebacker (no offense to Lenon, who really just isn't a good fit at that position), so could Marinelli be looking for a replacement already?
I imagine we'll see a couple more players get added to the active roster for the final game of the year just to give them a chance to gain more experience with nothing truly on the line the rest of the year.