Eric Ebron, Rick Wagner return to practice vs. Colts

The Detroit Lions are just a couple days away from their preseason opener against the Indianapolis Colts. Throughout two weeks of camp, the Lions have suffered numerous injuries, leaving the status of a few key players up in the air for Sunday’s game.

But the Lions received some great news to start their second day of joint practice with the Colts. First, Rick Wagner, who left Thursday’s practice with an undisclosed injury, was fully suited up for Friday’s practice. With injuries to two other starters along the offensive line—Taylor Decker and T.J. Lang—Wagner’s injury would have been a major blow to Detroit’s front five.

Maybe in even bigger news was the return of tight end Eric Ebron.

Ebron had participated in just one day of training camp practice before tweaking his hamstring on opening day. This was the second straight year Ebron dealt with a an injury during training camp. Last season, Ebron was carted off at the Lions’ mock game with a scary-looking leg injury.

Throughout the season, Ebron dealt with a lot of minor injuries, causing this latest injury to be a greater cause for concern. However, it appears Ebron is fully recovered at this point, and could even potentially play in Sunday’s preseason game against the Colts.

We’ll continue to monitor both players at practice today, and see how much they participate in individual and team drills.

UPDATE: Ebron appears to have had a very short day. Less than an hour into practice, he left the field and returned without pads, per Dave Birkett:

UPDATE 2: Ebron doesn’t appear to re-aggravated anything during practice. In fact, Jim Caldwell seems to think he’ll be ready very soon. “"He'll probably be back next week for us, rolling along," Caldwell said.

As for Rick Wagner, he showed no signs of any injury all day. Per MLive’s Kyle Meinke, “He was back to his old dominating self in one-on-ones, showing no ill affects of whatever knocked him out the previous day.”