Lions release WR Andre Caldwell from injured reserve

Last week, the Detroit Lions placed Andre Caldwell on the injured reserve list after he broke his hand. In his roster spot, the Lions added some depth to their tight end position by signing Andrew Quarless.

A week later the Lions have released Caldwell from the injured reserve list and from the team altogether. Typically, you wouldn’t be able to release a player on the injured reserve list, but the Lions utilized a lesser-known stipulation of the injured reserve rules. A team can release players on injured reserve if they come to an injury agreement within five days of placing that player on the list. Otherwise, the player cannot be released until fully healthy. In this case, it’s unlikely Caldwell is fully healthy after breaking his hand.

Caldwell was in the mix for the Lions’ competitive wide receiver camp battle, but when the injury happened, it pretty much sealed his fate with the team. Caldwell could theoretically rejoin the team, but he would not be able to until the length of the injury settlement plus an additional six weeks, per NFL rules.