Lions put Haloti Ngata on non-football injury list

When Detroit Lions players reported for training camp last week, it seemed that only three guys had notable injuries. Only running back Joique Bell, right tackle LaAdrian Waddle and defensive end Jason Jones were placed on the PUP list, indicating that everybody else was ready to hit the practice field.

On Monday, however, the Lions put defensive tackle Haloti Ngata on the non-football injury list. The NFI list essentially serves the same purpose as the PUP list, except it's for injuries that occurred outside of football. As a result, Ngata can be activated from the NFI list whenever he's ready to practice, and he will continue to count against the 90-man roster for the time being.

For now, there are no details on why Ngata has been put on the NFI list, and there's no indication about what kind of timetable the Lions are looking at for him to return. This could very well be a minor thing that keeps him out for only a day, or it could be something more serious that puts the start of his regular season in jeopardy. We just don't know right now.

Either way, this is a disappointing way to start training camp. The Lions acquired Ngata to replace Ndamukong Suh, but now they will have to wait a bit longer to see how Ngata performs in training camp. Given his veteran status, it's not as if Ngata is in desperate need of reps, but getting him experience with his new teammates will be important going forward.

UPDATE: Ian Rapoport reports that Ngata is dealing with a "minor hamstring injury," and according to Josh Katzenstein, Ngata is expected to "return in a week or so."