Kevin Jones suffered another serious injury against Kansas City just as the season was winding down, putting him on the shelf again for an extended period of time. The timetable for the running back's recovery should be much shorter than it was for the Lisfranc injury he had back in late 2006, but Jones still will likely be out for 4-6 months.
The fact that Jones likely will be back in time for training camp is important. Last year when he did come back from the Lisfranc injury, Jones had to return to the field during the regular season. Coming back like that showed initially as it took him some time to get back to full strength.
This time around, if Jones can go through at least a part of training camp and can stay injury free, then that is very good news for the Lions. Assuming he is ready for the start of the 2008 season, it should put the need of a running back down the list of priorities this offseason. There's no doubt that added depth is needed, especially considering that Brian Calhoun can't stay healthy, but getting an additional running back certainly is not as important as getting a better o-line or building a better secondary with Jones set to return before the start of next season.