Lions Place Two Veteran Linemen on Injured Reserve

Getty Mike Daniels hits Dak Prescott.

The Detroit Lions have had an insane run of injuries in the 2019 season, and Monday, the damage managed to keep getting worse.

Matt Patricia revealed Detroit placed offensive lineman Kenny Wiggins and defensive lineman Mike Daniels on season ending injury reserve, adding two new players to the list of the walking wounded from the team. Wiggins is set to undergo surgery to repair a torn bicep. Daniels has an arm injury.

Over the weekend, the Lions lost two other starters to IR when they placed Jarrad Davis and Joe Dahl on the list. They joined such names as Marvin Jones, T.J. Hockenson and Da’Shawn Hand. In total, the Lions now have 12 players on IR this year.

Mike Daniels Injuries

Daniels missed the end of the 2018 season in Green Bay with a foot injury which landed him on IR. He was attempting to work back from that this offseason when the Packers pulled the plug on Daniels and released him during training camp. The Lions snatched him up, and after an up and down start to his career in Detroit, he was hobbled by a foot injury to his other foot early in the season after a game with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Daniels didn’t play after that game until the middle of the fall and had been working back to health on the field. Prior to a game against the Chicago Bears in early November, he was limited in practice but was declared good enough to go by the time game time rolled around. Daniels was in and out of games the rest of the way.

Entering Detroit, Daniels has been one of the most productive interior linemen in the NFL during his career, piling up 228 tackles and 30 sacks coming into this season. He’s also been a Pro Bowl level talent in the league, which has been huge and allowed him to be one of the bigger name players along any defensive line. With the Lions, Daniels had not made as huge an immediate impact with just 3 tackles and 1 sack in his tenure with the team.

Now that his season is over, Daniels will likely turn his attention to what is next given he is an impending free agent in the spring of 2020 having only signed a one year deal with the Lions.

Kenny Wiggins Lions Stats

Detroit signed Wiggins back in the offseason of 2018, and he was a little-known player at that time. He had played with the Los Angeles Chargers, and was mostly a serviceable lineman who could be counted on to do spot duty for the team. In Detroit, Wiggins has been part of the rotation at guard and a player who was chipping in there for the team.

Much like Daniels, Wiggins is a free agent in 2020 and it will be interesting to see if the Lions elect to bring him back or not given what he has done with the team. At the very least, he is a serviceable player who has been able to chip in with a depth role.

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