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The Detroit Lions were without quite a few players on Thursday, but cornerback Ron Bartell was not among the group stuck on the sideline. That's because he returned to practice on Thursday after missing some time with a shoulder injury. Bartell reclaimed his spot as the No. 1 right cornerback, which was previously filled by Darius Slay.
Speaking of Slay, he got a bit banged up on Thursday by hurting his ankle. The injury didn't sound too bad when it happened, and Jim Schwartz confirmed it's nothing serious after practice. It turns out Slay merely rolled his ankle, so this shouldn't be an issue going forward.
Safety Amari Spievey also got hurt during Thursday's practice. He had to exit practice because of a tight hamstring, and he could be seen icing it after the injury happened.
The Lions' secondary was already shorthanded going into Thursday considering Jonte Green, Chris Greenwood and Louis Delmas all missed practice. Wide receiver Devin Thomas (PUP list) and linebacker Carmen Messina were once again absent from practice as well.
The Lions' defensive line was also a bit shorthanded on Thursday with defensive ends Willie Young, Jason Jones and Israel Idonije missing practice. I'm guessing these three players were simply kept out for precautionary reasons more than anything, and their absence allowed guys like Devin Taylor and Ronnell Lewis to get additional reps, so it's probably not a big deal.
The one other piece of injury news involved defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. He briefly headed to the sideline to get his back stretched out, according to Dave Birkett, but he quickly returned for the next set of drills. So it doesn't sound like anything we should be concerned about.