The Detroit Lions have announced that they have placed rookie EDGE rusher Austin Bryant on Injured Reserve and re-signed tight end Logan Thomas.
Bryant injured his upper-body early in fall training camp and missed all four of the preseason games. By waiting a full 24-hours after declaring their initial 53-man roster, Bryant is now eligible to return to the field — after a minimum six weeks — later in the year once healthy. If the Lions had placed Bryant on injured reserve before this point, he would not have qualified to return and would’ve missed the entire 2019 season.
With Eric Lee and Malik Carney waived at cuts, Bryant was slated to be the primary reserve at the JACK linebacker position behind Devon Kennard, but that role is now expected to be filled by Christian Jones who has been getting snaps there all offseason.
Jones — who started at WILL last season — was passed on the depth chart by second-round rookie Jahlani Tavai and was being deployed at all four linebacker positions throughout the preseason.
With Jarrad Davis injured, Tavai is expected to shift to the MIKE, opening the door for Jones to return to the starting lineup. Although, with the emergence of Jalen Reeves-Maybin as competition, Jones isn’t the Lions only option at WILL, thus allowing him to also backup the Lions all of the other linebacker positions as well.
Thomas was off the Lions roster for less than 24-hours and apparently was only released in the first place as a procedural move to make room for waiver-claim running back J.D. McKissic. As a vested veteran, Thomas was not subject to waivers and therefore could re-sign with the team once they cleared a spot on the roster — which they did by placing Bryant on injured reserve.
