Don’t read too much into Damon Harrison’s absence from Lions workouts

The Detroit Lions began offseason workouts on Monday, and it appears they’re without one of the biggest members of the team, both physically and symbolically. According to MLive, Damon Harrison Sr. has not appeared in Allen Park for the first two days of workouts, which can only include strength and conditioning activities per NFL rules.

This offseason, Harrison has already switched agents and is reportedly looking for a new deal. However, it’s unclear if Harrison’s absence has anything to do with his contract situation.

Back in 2017, Harrison appeared on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” and was pretty open and honest about his thoughts on voluntary training activities.

“To be 100 percent honest with you I didn’t even want to be at the voluntary workouts,” Harrison said. “For a guy like myself, it’s useless—I’m a physical guy and I can’t do anything physical there. We don’t have on shoulder pads.”

In fact, last year Harrison didn’t show up to offseason workouts and even skipped out on most of the team’s organized team activities in May. When asked why by the local media, he simply said, “I was minding my own damn business.”

As a 30-year-old veteran who is still playing at the top of his game, Snacks earned the right to take the offseason however he pleases. He is not breaking any NFL rules, and his routine has clearly worked well for him thus far.

So while there will undoubtedly be some hand-wringing among Lions fans that a holdout is inevitable, there’s no direct evidence this absence has anything to do with that. Let’s just wait this one out a little longer.