The Lions have dealt with the most injuries for any team in the NFL over the last two years, including key players on both sides of the ball.
Every team deals with injuries, obviously. But the Lions have been on the wrong side of luck lately.
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One fellow NFL player thinks he knows why.
San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner was on Amon Ra St. Brown’s podcast this week, and said he thinks head coach Dan Campbell needs to change his practice philosophy.
"Y’all go hard. Ole’ Dan Campbell be over there telling y’all to bite kneecaps," Warner said. "See, at some point, old Dan is going to come to his senses, man, and be like, ‘Listen, this ain’t making nobody better, brother. We can still get our work in without bringing guys to the ground."
St. Brown didn’t push back on the claim, instead he said, yes, the Lions do practice different.
"Every time a new player comes to our team, they look at us during practice, they be in the locker room like, ‘Y’all practice like that all that time?‘ I just be like, ‘Yeah, this is all I know," he said.
Warner continued: "I get the mindset that he’s trying to instill in y’all, but—because he’s obviously saying you can’t become better at tackling unless you practice tackling, right? I’m sure that’s the mindset, but tackling is about getting all the way there, wrapping the guy, thudding the guy, wrapping him—and then you just don’t got to do the extra bring him to the ground, right? Half the time, guys are just in desperation trying to get somebody on the ground where you’re putting yourself and the person who you’re tackling at risk, right? That’s improper tackling technique, but if you’re doing it correctly, you can be in a position where you can tackle and be like, ‘Okay, I ain’t bringing you all the way to the ground."
The Niners had a similar injury issue this year, but they were able to make it into the second round of the playoffs.