Lions injury updates: Amon-Ra St. Brown, D’Andre Swift could miss some time

The Detroit Lions injury news just keeps coming and coming. First, it was safety Tracy Walker, who suffered a torn Achilles on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings and will not play again this season.

Then there was D’Andre Swift, who not only aggravated his ankle injury against the Vikings, but also suffered a sprained shoulder that could hold him out for a few weeks. The Lions are considering shutting him down until the team’s Week 6 bye.

“We’ve thought about that,” Campbell said. “That was one of the things that I was thinking about last night and this morning, so it’s certainly – it’s on my mind, it’s on our mind. If you feel like he’s good enough to go, we know what he’s capable of, but not at the expense of him not being even up to 75 percent of himself. Even every player’s got to be at a certain point to be able to produce, and then not to mention the practice – not to be able to practice and get the detail of things. So that’s not fair to Swift either, to him or to us. So, certainly, we’re thinking about that as well.”

The latest news comes from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero on Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who suffered an ankle injury early in Sunday’s contest, but played through it for the rest of the game. According to Pelissero, St. Brown got tests on his ankle on Monday, and the results are “encouraging.” Unfortunately, Pelissero’s language suggests that he could still miss some time—but at least it’s not considered long-term.

Swift and St. Brown have been the two key pieces of the Lions’ offense through three weeks. St. Brown has accounted for 23 of the team’s 66 catches, 253 of the team’s 748 receiving yards, and three of the team’s seven receiving touchdowns. Meanwhile, Swift leads all NFL running backs in yards per carry (8.6) and has added two touchdowns of his own.

The good news for Detroit is that their other offensive weapons have been quite productive as well. Running back Jamaal Williams rsuhed for 87 yards and 4.35 per carry against the Vikings on Sunday, while Josh Reynolds picked up some of St. Brown’s slack with six catches for 96 yards on Sunday.

Still, St. Brown and Swift are superstars in the making, and Detroit’s offense is much better with them than without them.