Detroit Lions Rule Out Three, Four Questionable Against Vikings

Detroit Lions Week 9 Friday injury designation report.

Detroit Lions offensive tackle Taylor Decker (68) takes the field before the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

The Detroit Lions have officially ruled out three players against the Minnesota Vikings.

Safety Kerby Joseph, linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez and running back Craig Reynolds will not be available, when the team returns from the bye week to play in front of the home fans at Ford Field.

Four players were ruled questionable on the official injury report, including Taylor Decker, Avonte Maddox, Daniel Thomas and Sione Vaki.

With Reynolds out, it is expected that Sione Vaki will be able to fill in, especially on special teams. The second-year running back has been battling a groin injury, but has been a participant at practice, although in a limited capacity.

Special teams coach Dave Fipp was asked this week how much it impacts the special teams unit to get a player like the 2024 fourth-round draft pick back in action.

“I think it’s critical. I think it’s like really probably on offense. People say, ‘Well, if you have one good receiver that’s great.’ But if you’re the offensive coordinator and you just have one receiver, that’s hard because he gets doubled, he gets all the attention, they’re putting everything on him,'" said Fipp. "And the more talent you have across the board, the more it takes off of everybody else also.

"So, it’s not only like, ‘Oh yeah, we get this guy back and he can make a lot of plays.’ But then, he also takes some of the stress off of Grant Stuard or these other guys."

Fipp explained that having multiple players he can count on on a weekly basis makes it quite challenging for other kickoff or punt units to defend against.

"It’s like they’ve got more guys they have to worry about, you only have so many resources, you can’t double everybody," said Fipp. "So now, somebody’s getting a one-on-one, who’s getting that one-on-one, and how do you match up against that guy. So, anytime you have – I mean, it’s always better to have a lot of really good players than just one great player.

"A lot of times the hardest thing is one great player, you just can’t do much with him. It’s hard for him to overcome everything that’s thrown his way," Fipp explained further. "So, getting a guy like Vaki, Vaki’s a great player for us. He came in, it was unfortunate, we had him for like a game, and then he’s back out. And he made an impact in that game in the time he was in there. So, it’ll be good if we can get him back here.”