Kyle Van Noy injury: Does Lions linebacker have a sports hernia?

When the Detroit Lions ruled out linebacker Kyle Van Noy for Friday's game, the move came as a surprise. Van Noy hadn't missed any practice, and we didn't even know that he was dealing with an injury. We later learned that Van Noy was held out with an abdominal injury, but Jim Caldwell didn't exactly share many details about the ailment when he was asked about it on Saturday. He wasn't ready to call it a short- or long-term injury, and all he said is that the injury didn't happen on a specific play.

When Van Noy met with the media following the Lions' practice on Saturday, he did share a few details about the injury. Specifically, he indicated that it could be a sports hernia.

Kyle Van Noy said he'll undergo further evaluation for his "abdominal" injury, is concerned it could be a sports hernia

— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) August 23, 2014

Even Van Noy isn't sure how he suffered the injury, but the possibility of a sports hernia is definitely a cause for concern. That could sideline him for a significant chunk of the regular season, which would leave the Lions without their presumed starting strongside linebacker. Tahir Whitehead did an outstanding job in that role on Friday night, and the Lions do also have Ashlee Palmer, but they picked Van Noy in the second round for a reason. It'll be really disappointing if he misses the first part of his rookie season because of an injury that really came out of nowhere.