When Lions safety Louis Delmas had surgery on his knee in August, the Lions said that they expected him back for the regular season.
Week Three kicks off shortly and Delmas still hasn’t returned to action. We’ve kept a close eye on Delmas’ status since the surgery because the indication was that he’d return sooner rather than later, but it might be time to let that rest for a while. Coach Jim Schwartz gave an update on Delmas Thursday and it doesn’t sound like anyone is expecting him back anytime soon.
Schwartz said that Delmas’ injury is more week-to-week than day-to-day. Schwartz also said that he never had any expectation to have Delmas back on the field at this point in the season.
“It’s just we’re waiting for his knee to be better to get him back on the practice field and get him on the game field,” Schwartz said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “Like I said, that’s what it is. I never said that we expect to have him back. That’s the objective, but with injuries, we never go into any injury, whether it’s a guy with a pulled muscle or a guy with a knee injury -- a guy with anything -- and say, ‘Hey, this is the timetable, and he’s coming back right then.’”
Schwartz may not have promised a timetable, but he did say Delmas’ chances of playing in the opener looked good in the middle of August. The expected return date doesn’t matter right now, anyway. All that matters is getting Delmas, who the Lions insist hasn’t had a setback in his recovery, back on the field before week-to-week turns into month-to-month.