Detroit Lions Thursday injury report: Taylor Decker, Halapoulivaati Vaitai return to practice

The status of the Detroit Lions offensive line for Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings was shaken up by Thursday’s practice.

On the positive side, offensive tackles Taylor Decker and Halapoulivaati Vaitai both returned to practice after sitting on Wednesday with a back and foot injury, respectively. Both are trending towards playing, which is great news for Detroit considering how shallow their depth is at offensive tackle.

Unfortunately, the news wasn’t as good for guard Joe Dahl, who sat on Thursday after being limited on Wednesday. Dahl, too, is dealing with a back injury.

If both Decker and Vaitai end up playing with Dahl potentially sitting, there’s a pretty good chance the Lions will roll with this familiar formation on Sunday:

LT: Taylor Decker
LG: Jonah Jackson
C: Frank Ragnow
RG: Halapoulivaati Vaitai
RT: Tyrell Crosby

Elsewhere, starters Kenny Golladay and Tracy Walker remained sidelined, putting both players’ availability this week in doubt. However, T.J. Hockenson was promoted from limited to full practice, suggesting he won’t be too impacted by his new toe injury. Here’s a look at their entire injury report.

Thursday injury report:

WR Jamal Agnew (ribs) - No practice
WR Kenny Golladay (hip) - No practice
S Tracy Walker (foot) - No practice
OL Joe Dahl (back) - No practice
OL Halapoulivaati Vaitai (foot) - Limited practice
LT Taylor Decker (back) - Limited practice
LB Christian Jones (knee) - Limited practice
CB Darryl Roberts (hip/groin) - Limited practice
DT Danny Shelton (wrist) - Limited practice
CB Desmond Trufant (hamstring) - Limited practice
TE T.J. Hockenson (toe) - Full practice

In addition to this, the Lions also placed practice squad safety Jalen Elliott on the reserve/COVID-19 list. He becomes the third Lions player to be placed on the list this week, and it’s the second time he’s been on the list himself. The last time, Elliott was on the list for a couple weeks during training camp.

The Vikings injury report was unchanged from Thursday. They are still hurting at cornerback, as it appears Cameron Dantzler will not be out of concussion protocol in time for Sunday.

CB Holton Hill (foot) - No practice
CB Mark Fields II (chest) - No practice
CB Cameron Dantzler (concussion) - No practice
CB Harrison Hand (hamstring) - Limited practice
WR Dan Chisena (hip) - Limited practice
FB C.J. Ham (shoulder) - Full practice
WR Adam Thielen (shoulder) - Full practice