By Michael Stets
ALLEN PARK–The Lions suffered a major blow to their defense on Wednesday morning, placing defensive tackle Haloti Ngata on injured reserve.
Ngata, 33, suffered an injury to his elbow during the team’s 27-24 loss to the Carolina Panthers last Sunday. The five-time Pro Bowler was acquired by the Lions in a trade with the Baltimore Ravens in 2015. He started all five games this season and had two sacks and seven tackles.
“You are not going to find another Haloti Ngata,” said Lions head coach Jim Caldwell. “It’s not going to happen. But we do have guys that we have in place that we think can get the job done. What we ask them to do, they will get it done.”
Caldwell was asked if he thinks Ngata is a future Hall of Famer, to which he replied, “It’s not for me to judge, but I can tell you if I was voting I’d certainly be one of those guys that would vote for him.”
To help offset the loss of Ngata, the Lions signed defensive end Datone Jones and defensive tackle Caraun Reid.
A 2013 first-round pick with the Green Bay Packers, Jones, 27, played four years with the Packers before signing a one-year deal with the Minnesota Vikings this past March. He was placed on injured reserve with a shoulder injury on September 2 and released by the Vikings on September 8.
Reid, 25, is a former fifth-round pick who played his first two seasons with the Lions in 2014-2015. He spent the 2016 season with the San Diego Chargers and was waived on September 2.
To make room on the roster for both signings, the Lions waived linebacker Thurson Armbrister.