In a conversation with the Lions website, offensive coordinator Scott Linehan said that he expected running back Mikel Leshoure to be “heavily involved” in the game plan for Sunday’s game against the Titans.
Either Linehan forgot to ask Jim Schwartz if he was down with that course of action or Schwartz is trying to pass a bit of disinformation because the Lions coach said Tuesday that Leshoure isn’t a sure thing to play now that his two-game suspension has come to an end.
“I don’t know if it’s a given, but he’s on his way,” Schwartz said in an interview on WXYT in Detroit, via Phillip Zaroo of MLive.com. “He did a good job of staying with it. He was suspended (so) he wasn’t allowed to be at our games or our practices, but he could still work out in our facility and go to team meetings, stuff like that. So we saw him around last week. He’s worked really hard to be ready when his number’s called. We’ve been waiting a long time to call his number, so we know he’ll be ready.”
Unless there’s a physical setback, it is hard to imagine Leshoure won’t be on the field come Sunday. The team took a look at veterans Steve Slaton and Ryan Grant on Tuesday, but they decided not to sign either one which means there’s a spot waiting for Leshoure in the lineup. Detroit has waited a long time to see their 2011 second-round pick in meaningful game action and Linehan made it clear that they have ideas about how he can start helping the team on day one.