Lions place Ezekiel Ansah on PUP list, send FB Nick Bawden to IR

The Detroit Lions open camp shortly, but it looks like they’ll start without a few players. The team made a few injury-related transactions on Tuesday.

To begin with, defensive end Ezekiel Ansah will begin camp on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list. This is the second straight year Ansah has started camp on the PUP list and the third time in his five years in the NFL.

Ansah was limited in practice during minicamp earlier this offseason. The Lions have not disclosed the injury Ansah is dealing with, but the Detroit Free Press did report that Ansah had “clean-up procedure” on his knee this offseason.

While starting on the PUP list doesn’t mean Ansah will miss any time in the regular season—the Lions can activate him at any point during the preseason—it’s not exactly an encouraging sign for a player that has dealt with injuries his entire NFL career. Many hoped Ansah would enter 2018 as healthy as he’s ever been, but that’s clearly not the case right now.

The Lions made another move on Tuesday, placing rookie fullback Nick Bawden on injured reserve. The move was expected ever since reports indicated that Bawden suffered a torn ACL during minicamp. The Lions currently only have one other fullback on the roster: the former linebacker Nick Bellore.

In addition to those two moves, the Lions also placed receiver Andy Jones on the PUP list with an undisclosed injury.

To make up for the extra roster spot left by Bawden, the Lions have signed linebacker Freddie Bishop. Bishop was actually with the team back in 2013 as an undrafted free agent, but did not make it to training camp. Since then, he’s played three years in the CFL and spent most of the past two seasons on the New York Jets’ practice squad, although he did make 9 total game appearances with the Jets, accumulating 19 tackles in the process.

Bishop is originally from Detroit and went to Western Michigan in college.