Veteran cornerback Desmond Trufant, who missed the last two games with a hamstring injury, is active for the Detroit Lions today as they host the New Orleans Saints at Ford Field. Trufant was limited in practice this week, and was listed as questionable on Friday's injury report.
Trufant suffered the hamstring injury late in the third quarter of Detroit's Week 1 loss in Chicago. He was playing well in that contest up to that point, allowing just two catches for 20 yards. He was one of Detroit's key free-agent signings this offseason.
His return means the Lions have some decisions to make at cornerback between Trufant, second-year cornerback Amani Oruwariye and rookie Jeff Okudah at the two outside cornerback spots. Could they use a rotation? Will one player move inside to the nickel? Could they ease Trufant back into the mix? We shall see.
The news is also good for linebacker Christian Jones, who suffered a knee injury sometime this week. He wasn't listed on the practice report Wednesday or Thursday, but showed up Friday as a non-participant with a knee injury and was listed as questionable to play today. He worked out on the field about two hours before kickoff testing the knee with what looked like a compression sleeve over the knee. Jones is active today.
Defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand, who was also questionable coming in with a chest injury, is also active. He has six tackles in Detroit's first three games.
The Saints are pretty banged up heading into this one and are missing a number of key starters that include wide receiver Michael Thomas, cornerback Marshon Lattimore, cornerback Janoris Jenkins, tight end Jared Cook, defensive end Marcus Davenport and guard Andrus Peat. All six starters were ruled out Friday.
New NFL rules allow for rosters of up to 48 players on gameday, as long as at least eight players are offensive linemen. Detroit has eight linemen active today, so their five inactive players are: Tight end Hunter Bryant, cornerback Chris Jones, safety C.J. Moore, guard Logan Stenberg and linebacker Elijah Lee.
