Lions defensive lineman Mike Daniels hasn’t taken part in team work this week’s joint practices with the Patriots and won’t be playing against them on Thursday night, but things should be different next week.
Daniels has not done anything other than individual work with the Lions since signing with them in late July, but said during a Wednesday appearance on NFL Network that he expects to get on the field during next week’s joint practices with the Texans. Neither Daniels nor the team cited a reason why he hasn’t been on the field, although the foot injury that ended Daniels’s 2018 season would be one guess.
Daniels said that the foot isn’t an issue, however.
“I’m ready to go,” Daniels said, via MLive.com. “I’m ready to go. But like I said, it’s just a matter of being smart. I’ve been through plenty of camps in my career, and not saying I don’t want to get the work, which is why I’ll be out there next week, but it’s just being smart. As you get older, you have to be smart. You can’t just beat yourself into submission every day, which is what I prefer to do.”
Two other Lions defensive linemen -- Trey Flowers and Damon Harrison -- have been out of practice during training camp as well. It’s unclear when they’ll get the green light to join Daniels in resuming a full schedule.