In December, the Lions put center Travis Swanson on injured reserve, saying he had suffered a concussion. Now Swanson is heading into free agency, and plans to tell teams he didn’t have a concussion when the Lions said he did.
According to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, Swanson’s representations have medical documentation that they will show teams, demonstrating that the symptoms the Lions attributed to a concussion were actually a bad reaction to medication. Swanson said the symptoms disappeared when he stopped taking the medicine.
Swanson played every snap of the Lions’ Week 14 game, but the Lions said that he felt symptoms afterward, and the Lions said those symptoms were the result of a concussion. The Lions say they stand by their injury reports.
A concussion also ended Swanson’s 2016 season, and teams will obviously be concerned about that concussion history when they consider whether to sign Swanson in free agency. Swanson wants teams to know that the concerns aren’t as serious as they might think.