THE Detroit Lions made a series of injury-related moves to free up roster space on Tuesday, but perhaps the most notable was the one they didn’t make.
The Lions placed defensive tackle Alim McNeill and cornerbacks Carlton Davis III and Khalil Dorsey on injured reserve Tuesday, two days after suffering season-ending (or potentially) injuries in Sunday’s loss to the Buffalo Bills.
The Lions have officially signed linebacker Anthony Pittman from the Jacksonville Jaguars’ practice squad, signed cornerback Stanley Thomas-Oliver to their practice squad and released defensive end Isaiah Thomas from the team training.
But they did not place running back David Montgomery on IR.
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Montgomery injured his right knee MCL against the Bills, and Lions coach Dan Campbell said Monday he will likely need season-ending surgery.
“It looks like he’s going to need surgery that will sideline him for the rest of the year,” Campbell said. “He had it at one point yesterday in that game. I mean, David is so tough, man. He kept playing, then had it checked today and realized that’s what it was.
“He’s just the ultimate teammate, the ultimate competitor. We’re going to miss him, man. He’s another one of those guys that got us to this position, helped us get to where we are and the rest of between us, we owe it to him to continue and ensure that it was not in vain.”
Montgomery, who has 775 rushing yards and a team-leading 12 rushing touchdowns through 14 games, was still evaluating treatment options after undergoing tests on his knee Monday.
At a coat drive he organized Tuesday, he told the team website he was “still working on some logistics and things could change” with his schedule.
When asked if there was a chance he would play again this season, he told the team’s website: “I hope so.”
The Lions (12-2) play road games the next two weeks against the Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers before hosting the Minnesota Vikings in a regular-season finale that could decide the NFC North .
Jahmyr Gibbs is expected to handle the bulk of the running back workload in Montgomery’s absence, with Craig Reynolds and Sione Vaki playing as backups.
Dave Birkett is the author of the new book, “Detroit Lions: An illustrated chronology.
Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram on @davebirkett.
This article was originally published on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions rank 3 in IR; window open for the return of David Montgomery?
