Getty Tramaine Brock playing with the Titans in 2019.
The Detroit Lions have been renovating their practice squad in recent days and made another move on Thursday morning to continue that momentum.
Detroit signed veteran defensive back Tramaine Brock to the team’s practice squad. Brock has been in the league since 2010 when he entered as a hungry undrafted free agent. He’s carved out a decent role for himself in the league since then, and was out of work only temporarily in 2020 until landing in Detroit this week.
The #Lions have signed CB Tramaine Brock to the practice squad and release CB Dee Virgin from the practice squad.
In addition, CB Jeff Okudah has been placed on Reserve/Injured.
As part of the move, the Lions released veteran cornerback Dee Virgin, who is a special teams stud and has been for the last few seasons. It’s not likely Virgin will be out of work long considering the work he does on special teams, but he was not a player that could be counted on to play a starting role at cornerback as Brock has been through the years.
Sooner rather than later, Brock could be looking at having a starting role or at the very least playing some major minutes given what’s happened in terms of injuries to the Detroit defensive backfield in recent weeks.
Tramaine Brock Stats
Brock, 32, has been a fixture in NFL defensive backfields for the better part of a decade since coming into the league as an undrafted free agent out of Belhaven. He started his career with San Francisco where he played from 2010-2016 and did his most notable work on the field. With the 49ers, he made Super Bowl XLVII. From there, Brock bounced around and was with the Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos, Arizona Cardinals and Tennessee Titans. Most recently, he was with the Jacksonville Jaguars earlier this season and was released with an injury settlement in September.
During his career, Brock has been a decently productive corner with 262 tackles, 11 interceptions, 2 forced fumbles, 1 touchdown and 55 passes defended in his career. He can play a starting role for a team and also moonlight on special teams, which could make him valuable for the Lions given their desperate injury situation at this point in time.
Lions Defensive Backfield Suffering Injuries
The Lions need healthy bodies of any kind in their backfield just to finish out the 2020 season at this point. Already, the team has lost Desmond Trufant and Jeff Okudah to injuries, the duo that was supposed to be their leaders at the position this season. The Lions are also dealing with injuries to depth players which has complicated matters as well, leaving Amani Oruwariye out on an island by himself as one of the only healthy and productive options on the team at this point in time in the backfield.
With this news, it’s likely that Brock could come in and play a role for the Lions down the stretch. He will probably need time to get acclimated to the defense, but once that happens, he could quickly get elevated to the roster off the practice squad and fill in with regards to depth in the final weeks of the season.
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