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This past Saturday, Detroit Lions safety Louis Delmas missed his third practice in a row. He had been given four days off when you add in the Lions' off day, and it was tough to not start worrying about the possibility that he suffered a setback.
On Sunday, however, Delmas returned to the practice field. What's more, he had his "heaviest work day" yet, according to Chris McCosky. This was a positive sign, as was the fact that Delmas was able to practice again on Tuesday when the Lions returned from another day off.
Following Tuesday's practice, Delmas proclaimed that he's feeling as good as he has in quite some time, and he made it known that he wants to play on Friday against the New York Jets.
#Lions: Louis Delmas says he feels best he has in 2 years. Wants to play Friday but decision hasn't been made.
— Paula Pasche (@paulapasche) August 6, 2013
The Lions have been very careful with Delmas so far in training camp in order to make sure he doesn't aggravate his knee injury, hence him getting four days in a row off last week. It's unclear if their plan to keep him healthy includes playing in preseason games, but it would surprise me if it does. Delmas may feel good and want to play, but the reality is that the Lions need to be extra careful, and being extra careful probably doesn't involve him playing in preseason games.
In any case, this is certainly good to see after how many negative signs there were surrounding Delmas' injury last week when he was regularly missing practice. Hopefully this will continue going forward, especially once the regular season arrives.