Lions injury report: Isaiah Buggs misses Saturday’s practice

The Detroit Lions held their first practice of Week 1 open to the media on Saturday, and all but one player on the 53-man roster was accounted for on the field. Defensive tackle Isaiah Buggs was the only player who was not out there participating during the first 15 minutes of practice—which is all the media is permitted to watch during the season.

Buggs appeared to suffer an injury in the Lions’ preseason finale against the Carolina Panthers. It’s unclear what injury he’s dealing with or if it’s considered serious. At this point, it’s not even entirely certain that his absence on Saturday is injury related.

That said, if Buggs’ availability for Week 1 is in question, it’s a significant loss for Detroit. This offseason, the Lions re-signed Buggs to a two-year, $4.5 million contract after playing 755 defensive snaps for them last year. He’s a key part of what they do on run defense and a leader in the defensive line room.

“He’s extremely important,” coach Dan Campbell said back in January. ”And I kind of feel like every week, you talk about the run game, it always starts inside. Everything for us starts inside and works its way out.”

In better news for Detroit, safety Ifeatu Melifonwu, cornerback Emmanuel Moseley, and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown were all practicing on Saturday. All three players had been dealing with injuries and were either limited or out when training camp ended. Moseley was taken off the Physically Unable to Perform list earlier this week, but it’s unclear if he’ll be ready to go by Thursday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

“It’s tough for me to say right now, but he’s progressed well,” Campbell said on Friday. “It’s a credit to him. He’s put a ton of work into it, he’s a grinder and what bodes well for him is he’s smart. He’s played the game and he’s pretty instinctive and so he can—I think he’s got a chance to catch up pretty fast. Does that mean (he’ll play) this week? I don’t know, but we’ll just take it as it comes.”

The Lions are expected to drop their first official injury report of the season on Monday.