Lions inactives vs. Panthers: One veteran’s latest scratch could be a sign his time in Detroit is running out
Detroit’s inactive list includes several expected scratches, but one veteran sitting again after a significant linebacker-room change feels much more noteworthy.
The Detroit Lions will take on the Carolina Panthers on Sunday Night Football in just a couple of hours. Before we get there, here’s who will not be playing with the Lions in this game.
Ahmed Hassanein
Guys, I don’t know. I thought he had a great summer in camp and preseason. He doesn’t appear to be injured. He had a little illness last week, but didn’t show up on the injury report beyond that. I don’t know why they won’t play him. But the Lions’ defensive line has played quite well this year, and maybe they don’t want to mess with the flow.
Bishop Fitzgerald
The Lions are going very slim at safety tonight. Chuck Clark, Christian Izien, and Jalen Mills. Maybe we see rookie Keith Abney there a little bit. He’s active yet again. At some point we might see Fitzgerald, but right now it feels like he might hit the practice squad at some point and get elevated from there. He’s still a rookie, so it makes some sense that they don’t want to throw him in the deep end after just a couple of weeks of practice.
Devin White
Campbell alluded to it earlier this week when he said he liked the six linebackers who were in the rotation against the Jets. Then the Lions brought Amen Ogbongbemiga up to the 53-man roster. At this point, it wouldn’t feel entirely shocking if White is not on this team after the bye week. They tried; it didn’t work out.
Ben Bartch, Tyler Conklin, Mekhi Wingo
All of these players were expected to scratch for this game. With Conklin out, it does raise the question of how much more we could see Jackson Meeks in this game and going forward. It seems he’s jumped the veteran on the depth chart.
