Arlington, Texas — The Detroit Lions had hoped keeping D’Andre Swift on the shelf the two weeks prior to the bye would be enough to get the dual-threat running back after the break, but lingering shoulder and ankle injuries kept him on the lineup against the Dallas Cowboys.
“Swift was not ready,” coach Dan Campbell said after the game, a 24-6 loss. “Hopefully Swift will be ready next week.”
Swift suffered the ankle sprain in the season opener, but was managing to play through the pain, prior to injuring his shoulder in Week 3. Through three games, he had racked up more than 300 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns. While he remained out, Jamaal Williams continued to shoulder most of the backfield load, supplemented by Craig Reynolds and Justin Jackson.
Also inactive for the Lions were defensive tackle Michael Brockers, defensive end Charles Harris, cornerback Will Harris, safety Ifeatu Melifonwu, offensive tackle Matt Nelson and defensive lineman Demetrius Taylor.
Charles Harris, Melifonwu and Nelson had been ruled out Friday, while Will Harris had unexpectedly popped up on Friday’s injury report with a hip issue and had been listed as questionable for Sunday’s game.
Brockers, meanwhile, was a surprising healthy scratch. The defensive captain has missed just one game since joining the Lions via trade ahead of the 2021 season. But his playing time had already been cut significantly. Through five games, he was seeing action on 32% of the team’s defensive snaps compared to 54.5% a year ago.
“Certainly that is difficult, but we felt like it was the right decision for us, for this game, for what we needed,” Campbell said. “I sat down and talked to Brockers and he was great. He understood. He’s like anybody, he’s a competitor and all those things, but he also understood and appreciated the communication.”
With Brockers out, the Lions will leaned more heavily on a pair of young, returning players. John Cominsky, who missed the past three games with a broken thumb, and rookie Josh Paschal, who made his season debut after undergoing surgery to repair a sports hernia this offseason.
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Justin_Rogers