6 Detroit Lions starters on offense miss Wednesday’s practice

Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell started his Wednesday afternoon press conference with a lengthy list of players who will not be participating in the opening practice of the week. It would almost be easier for me to name the players who are practicing, but here are the players Campbell mentioned.

• G Jonah Jackson
• C Frank Ragnow
• TE T.J. Hockenson
• WR Josh Reynolds
• WR Amon-Ra St. Brown
• RB D’Andre Swift

In case you’re keeping score, that’s six offensive starters currently dealing with an ailment, including every skill player, save DJ Chark, who was at practice, but also likely limited as he was also on Campbell’s list of concerns.

Now, to be fair, Campbell offered more clarity on each player, and it sounds like some are just getting some early-week rest. But others seem very much at risk of missing Sunday’s contest against the Seattle Seahawks.

Let’s dive into what he said about each player:

• Frank Ragnow (toe) - “We’re obviously optimistic with Frank. Just giving him a breather there.”
• DJ Chark - “Chark, I think, will be okay.”
• Josh Reynolds - “I think Reynolds will be okay. We’ll take it day-to-day, see where we’re at.”
• It was a little less clear for Amon-Ra St. Brown, who suffered an ankle injury after Vikings cornerback Patrick Peterson fell on it.

“Saint’s really day-to-day,” Campbell said. “He’s a little farther (away from playing) than Reynolds, but we’ll see.”

• But then, when he started talking about D’Andre Swift, Campbell seemed to cast more doubt on St. Brown’s availability this week.

“Swift and Saint kind of fall in that same boat,” Campbell said. He later clarified:

“I”m just putting him in the same boat as Saint, as in, ‘Hey we’ll see where it’s at.’ They’re farther away than Reynolds is—Josh Reynolds. Swift would have to be significantly better to probably play. It’d have to be this—the skies open up, the bright light comes out and ‘I’m good to go. I feel unbelievable and here we go.’”

In other words, Reynolds is closer to healthy than St. Brown, who is closer than Swift, who—unless a miracle happens—is almost certainly out.

Overall, based on Campbell’s words, you can put the players into these categories:

Resting, but they feel okay about:

• Frank Ragnow
• DJ Chark
• Josh Reynolds

Truly day-to-day

• Amon-Ra St. Brown

Long shot

• D’Andre Swift

No further details from Campbell

• T.J. Hockenson
• Jonah Jackson

For this final category, there probably isn’t too much concern about Hockenson, who has been dealing with a hip injury but played last week. Jackson, on the other hand, has not yet played since suffering a finger injury in Week 1 against the Philadelphia Eagles. Given that he was not placed on injured reserve, there was hope that he’d return before Week 5’s game against the Patriots, but sitting Wednesday isn’t exactly a good sign.