Detroit Lions elevate kicker Ryan Santoso vs. Steelers, place Austin Seibert on IR

Detroit Lions announced that kicker Austin Seibert’s hip injury has landed him on injured reserve and they have elevated kicker Ryan Santoso from the practice squad for the team’s Week 10 matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Per NFL rules, teams can elevate up to two players from the practice squad on any given week, and following the conclusion of the game, the player(s) will revert back to the team's practice squad without being subject to waivers. A player can be elevated twice per season under the league’s standard elevation rules.

The league also has an addendum to this rule for a player elevated due to COVID-19 related circumstances. If a player is elevated as COVID-19 replacement, there is no limit to the number of times they can be elevated and those elevations do not count against the two standard elevations allowed.

This is important for Santoso because this is the third time he has been elevated this season, but the first two times he was elevated were due to COVID-19 related circumstances and do not count against his standard elevations. Saturday’s elevation is a standard elevation and will count as one of his two available on the season.

While Santoso will be elevated this week, it’s very likely he will be signed to the active roster soon. With Seibert on injured reserve, he must miss the next three weeks, and signing Santoso for that timeframe makes sense.

In Santoso’s previous two games on the active roster, he was a perfect 4-for-4 on extra points and also kicked a high-pressure, go-ahead field goal against the Ravens, which he discussed with us on the podcast last week.