Lions receiver Nate Burleson is scheduled for surgery on Wednesday after breaking his arm in a car accident, and now the Lions are looking for someone who can catch a football.
Detroit has already talked with multiple teams about acquiring a receiver in a trade, according to Tim Twentyman of the Lions’ website.
There’s no word on which players the Lions are targeting or which teams they’ve contacted, but any time trades are being discussed the Browns will be a subject of speculation: Cleveland already traded running back Trent Richardson, and receivers Josh Gordon, Greg Little, Travis Benjamin or Davone Bess could be players the Lions would contact the Browns about trading.
Kenny Britt, the often-troubled receiver who is unhappy in Tennessee, could be an option as well.
Lions coach Jim Schwartz said Burleson broke both bones in his forearm. Schwartz said it’s too soon to say whether Burleson will go on injured reserve, but it sounds like an injury that will cost Burleson at least several weeks, if not the whole season.
Without Burleson, the Lions don’t have a lot of depth at wide receiver behind Calvin Johnson. Ryan Broyles has shown flashes of talent, but he has two torn ACLs in the last two years, and the Lions are trying to take it slowly with him and limit his playing time. Patrick Edwards is struggling with an ankle injury. Kris Durham has had his moments, including a 33-yard catch on Sunday at Washington, but Durham has just 13 catches in his three-year NFL career.
Sadly for Burleson, the cause of his accident was something incredibly silly: He had gone out for a late-night snack and was driving home when he became distracted by a pizza falling from his passenger seat to the floor. As he reached down to grab the pizza, he crashed into a median, and that’s when he broke his arm.