Mike Daniels suffered a foot injury, and it appears it’s somewhat serious. In the locker room, a few media members caught Daniels in a walking boot and crutches. That’s obviously never a good sign.
However, there is some positive news. According to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network, x-rays were negative for Daniels. (no broken bones)
Here’s a little more good news. This injury is not related to the foot injury that ended his 2018 season and necessitated offseason surgery. That injury was to his left foot. This one is very clearly to his right foot.
Darius Slay was officially listed with a hamstring injury when the team announced it midway through the game. His status is currently unclear, but he spoke briefly with reporters after the game. He said “I’m good” when asked how he felt and “we’ll see” if he’ll play next week against Kansas City
Danny Amendola was a little banged up after making a heroic third-down catch late in the game. He told MLive that he landed funny and should be okay.
Jarrad Davis left the game temporarily to get his ankle retaped. He returned with no apparent issue.
Jesse James limped off the field after a second-down conversion in the third quarter. His status is unclear.
The other guy worth mentioning is Da’Shawn Hand, who may be earing the point where he can return to the field. I got no information, just a feeling that we won’t see him util maybe in Green Bay after the bye.
IMHO, Daniels is a lot like Harrison in that his true value does not appear on the stat sheet for tackles and sacks. He disrupts the middle and frees up other Lions to make the sack or TFL. I can’t say he was worth the $8 mil it took to sign him, not yet anyway, but when he gets back on the field it could be that his contributions will increase as the Lions head into crunch time.
As for being in horrible shape, well it’s kinda hard for a man who is as big as he is to get into football shape when you’ve got a bad foot. It hasn’t turned out as well as the Lions hoped, but it ain’t over yet.
Could be that Daniels is basically worthless for this year, but it also could be that his foot injury isn’t as bad as the one to his left foot and he could be back in time for the T’Day game and beyond. Perhaps practicing in as soon as 2-3 weeks. I think you’re jumping the shark a little bit here, it’d be nice to have him back for the stretch run even he’s only good for 50% of the defensive snaps.