The Detroit Lions have placed defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand on injured reserve, activated offensive lineman Hal Vaitai from injured reserve, and signed offensive tackle Dan Skipper off of the practice squad. With only three games remaining, Hand’s season is over.
For the third December in a row, Hand has finished the Lions season on injured reserve. In 2018 Hand’s knee cost him the final few games, last year it was a lingering ankle injury, and this year his ankle came back to bite him again.
Over the last two years, Hand has had to fight through a plethora of injuries, from the elbow and ankle injuries costing him 13 games last season to the chest, groin, and yet another ankle injury this season costing him another six games.
Hand was able to play through his chest injury this year, but it did limit his play on the field. He would finish the season with 19 tackles, just one tackle for loss, a forced fumble, along with zero sacks and zero quarterback hits. Hand’s last sack came during Week 9 of his rookie season.
Vaitai is returning from his stint on injured reserve at just the right time.
While he was replaced by Oday Aboushi at right guard in Week 12, he likely won’t return to guard this week. Instead, with right tackle Tyrell Crosby (ankle) being ruled out, Vaitai will likely take over there, pushing Matt Nelson back to the bench.
Skipper, having exhausted his practice squad elevations, has been signed off the practice squad for offensive line depth and so the Lions can take advantage of a new 2020 game-day roster rule. He will take the roster spot opened up after Jeff Okudah was placed on injured reserve earlier this week.
His signing gives the Lions 10 offensive linemen on their active roster, but with Crosby ruled out, and Frank Ragnow downgraded to out, the Lions only have eight healthy offensive linemen — which is the exact minimum amount of offensive linemen they need to have active in order to expand their game-day roster from 46- to 48-players.
