By Michael Stets
INDIANAPOLIS–The Detroit Lions concluded their second joint session with the Colts on Friday morning, and Rick Wagner, the team’s starting right tackle, returned to action after leaving practice early on Thursday with an undisclosed injury.
But that wasn’t the only good news of the day.
Tight end Eric Ebron, who’s been out with a hamstring injury since the first day of camp on July 31, made a brief appearance at practice Friday. The fourth-year tight end wasn’t a full participant, but he was in pads and off to the side running routes at full speed–a very encouraging sign he could be back at full capacity very soon.
“Yeah, he’ll probably be back next week for us, [he’s] rolling along,” Caldwell said after practice.
Caldwell explained what Ebron’s value is to the Lions’ offense: “He’s a weapon. I think when you look at a guy who’s caught around 60 balls last year, every year he’s almost doubled his output. We don’t anticipate he’s going to double his output this year, there’s not going to be 120 balls going to him in that respect, but nevertheless, I think he’s going to be able to do a little bit more damage. I think that like most other guys that have been in the system, he’s going to have a little bit better feel for all of the things that we do. He’s gone through and this will be a couple years now and I think you’ll see some of that explosiveness come out. He’s a capable guy, you just have to keep him healthy.”
Ebron, drafted No. 10 overall by the Lions in 2014, has yet to play all 16 games in a season. He missed three games last season and two in 2015. Caldwell said he expects Ebron to have a major impact on the Lions’ offense whether he plays in all 16 games or not.
“When you look at it across the board, it’s difficult to play 16 games in this league,” Caldwell said. “It’s rare when you get guys that actually—at various positions maybe other than quarterback, so that’s going to happen. He may miss a couple here or there, but I think he’ll be there for the lion’s share of things and he’s going to be able to make a difference for us.”
And as far as how Ebron handles himself while being injured, Caldwell says “He’s always been diligent.”
“That wouldn’t be anything new. I don’t see any difference there. He’s been very, very attentive to how he works, how he works at it. He’s always chomping at the bit. You know, he’d like to get out there a lot sooner than our doctors would say he’s ready to go and I think that’s because of his eagerness. But I do think that every year he grows and develops, like most guys as a professional. You know, three years in, four years in, I think you see that sort of settle in on them and he’s no different.”
Overall, the Lions head coach was pleased with the second day of practice with the Colts.
“It was excellent,” he said. “I can’t tell you how valuable these sessions have been for us. Where you don’t get a chance to work against anyone else other than yourself from the spring and most of the summer and then you get an opportunity to see a little different schematics on all sides of the ball and also the kicking game to kind of measure your guys against.”
Disaster Avoided
During team drills, Matthew Stafford and Ameer Abdullah collided with one another, banging knees, and Stafford began limping around after the play. Luckily for the Lions, it wasn’t anything serious and their star quarterback was able to avoid injury, shake it off and return to action. It’s worth noting that before Stafford limped off the collision with Abdullah, he managed to fire a sidearm pass while throwing off of his back foot to Golden Tate, who made the catch.
“I was on the other field so I didn’t see it,” Caldwell said. “Yeah, I only heard about it but I didn’t see it. If I didn’t hear any ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ from the crowd so I didn’t worry too much about it. But he and Ameer (Abdullah), I guess kind of clicked knees from what I understand, but he’s fine.”
The Lions begin their preseason on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. ET against the Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium.