The Detroit Lions announced on Saturday that veteran defensive tackle Mike Daniels has been downgraded from questionable to out for Week 9’s matchup against the Oakland Raiders. Perhaps more surprisingly, starting right guard Graham Glasgow was also downgraded to out.
It’s not uncommon for teams to downgrade a player from questionable or doubtful to out the day before an away game. Typically, that simply means the player did not travel with the team, so there is no question that they won’t play this week.
For Daniels, he has been dealing with a foot injury since early in Week 3 against the Philadelphia Eagles. He has just recently returned to practice, but has been limited in his participation since last week.
With just Daniels out, the Lions depth would be fine. However, A’Shawn Robinson is also questionable for this week’s game after popping up on the injury report with a new ankle injury. His chance of playing this week is unknown, but if the Lions are without him, too, they could be in some trouble that would leave them with just Da’Shawn Hand, Damon Harrison Sr. (who is also questionable, but likely to play), John Atkins and Kevin Strong as their only remaining healthy defensive tackles. That’s not great for a team about to face one of the best rushing attacks in the league.
As for Glasgow, he was a full participant in practice on Friday, but reporter Kyle Meinke noted how stiff and uncomfortable he looked after practice in the locker room. Glasgow missed the final quarter of last week’s game after experience a sore back. He will likely be replaced by veteran Kenny Wiggins, who was rotating in anyways.