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The Detroit Lions already took one major loss on defense when safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson suffered a season-ending pectoral injury, and now are taking another big hit.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that cornerback Emmanuel Moseley will also be lost for the season after going down in the team’s win over the Carolina Panthers on October 8. As Schefter reported, Moseley’s season didn’t last very long.
“In his first game back from the torn left ACL he suffered in Week 5 last year, Lions’ CB Emmanuel Moseley tore his right ACL in Week 5 this year vs. the Panthers, per source,” Schefter reported on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Awful.”
Lions head coach Dan Campbell had hinted shortly after Sunday’s game that Moseley’s injury looked bleak, but told reporters on Sunday that he still needed an MRI to confirm the diagnosis. Between Gardner-Johnson and Moseley, the Lions have now lost two of their biggest offseason additions to the defense.
Former 49ers Cornerback Fought His Way Back
As Schefter noted, Moseley missed the majority of the 2022 season with the San Francisco 49ers after tearing the ACL in his opposite knee and spent the offseason rehabbing. In March, shortly after signing in Detroit, Moseley said he was grateful for the Lions to take a chance on signing him despite an injury that was expected to keep him out for the start of the 2023 season.
Moseley said he was confident he could make an impact for the Lions in 2023.
“They took a chance on me, signed me here coming off this knee injury,” Moseley said, via the Detroit Free Press. “But I know what type of player I can be. I see the direction that the program is going in. I used to watch the games, just being a football player, watching the games, you can see that they’re transcending in the right way, so why not be a part of that?”
Moseley did miss the first four games of this season, and made it just two snaps into Sunday’s win over the Panthers before going down with an injury.
Lions Pressed to Replace Veteran Cornerback
As Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press noted, the Lions are left without a proven cornerback after Moseley’s injury. Cam Sutton and Jerry Jacobs have both started all five games at cornerback for the Lions, but neither have the proven track record that Moseley brought from his time with the 49ers.
Campbell said the team could rely more heavily on Will Harris, who played in place of Brian Branch when Branch suffered an ankle injury against the Panthers. It is not clear if Branch will return for this week’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but Campbell believes that Harris can take his place.
“Will’s somebody we’ve got a lot of trust in,” Campbell said last week. “He’s banked a lot of nickel reps. And there again, Will, not only to be able to play nickel, outside corner, safety in a pinch, he’s just got so much versatility for us. So that’s good.”
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