Detroit Lions LB Jarrad Davis participating more at Wednesday’s practice

We may see Jarrad Davis on the field much sooner rather than later.

On Wednesday, the Detroit Lions’ third-year linebacker was a much more active participant than he was at this time last week. Davis suffered an ankle injury during the team’s third preseason game, and initial worries were that it was a high-ankle sprain that could take months to fully heal.

But since then, Davis has avoided the injured reserve list and shockingly returned to practice last week. However, this has to be the most promising news about Davis yet. The Lions were in full pads on Wednesday, and it didn’t appear that Davis missed a single rep during the open portion of practice to the media, which is mostly individual drills.

When the Lions release their first injury report later on Wednesday, Davis will almost certainly be listed as limited—seeing as this will be his first active practice since suffering the injury—but if Davis continues to trend in this direction throughout the week and doesn’t suffer any setbacks, it seems realistic that he could play Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Meanwhile, cornerback Rashaan Melvin and defensive tackle Da’Shawn Hand were both at practice but not doing much of anything. This is about where Melvin was at this time last week, but he ended up playing through his knee injury against the Cardinals. As for Hand, he is still returning from an elbow injury suffered early in training camp. He’s making clear progress but still may be a few weeks away.

The Lions’ first injury report of the day should be released around 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday.