This coming Thursday, the Detroit Lions will host their annual Thanksgiving Day game when they welcome the Chicago Bears to Ford Field.
With starting quarterback Matthew Stafford almost certainly set to miss another game, backup Jeff Driskel is in line to get his fourth straight start for the Lions.
Or is he?
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Though the Lions did not hold an official padded practice on Monday, they did release a projected injury report and Driskel was listed as “limited” with an injured hamstring.
From Detroit Free Press:
“I think for us right now, it’s obviously the day after the game, so these are always really tricky to kind of try to figure out from that aspect of it,” coach Matt Patricia said. “He’s sore from the game yesterday, he ran a lot and his hamstring is a little tight. We’ll see how the week goes from that standpoint, and I’m sure he’ll get treatment and all of that stuff as far as that goes.”
Patricia did make sure to point out that though Driskel’s legs are a big part of his game, he is a QB first and foremost and he is capable of standing in the pocket and making throws as a traditional QB does.
“I think we can all see his athleticism out there on the field and what that brings from that standpoint,” Patricia said. “But he is a quarterback, so he can stand in the pocket and throw and do some of those things.
“Some things like that can just be handled by the position, I would say more than anything else. It’d be different if I think if it was a wide receiver or somebody from that standpoint. We’ll just see how it goes. Again, it’s so soon after the game from that deal, we’ll see what that looks like.”
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That being said, if Stafford and Driskel are both ruled out for Thursday’s game against the Bears, they would have to turn to third-string QB David Blough to handle the duties under center.
This scenario would also mean the Lions would likely look to sign a quarterback before Thanksgiving Day as an emergency plan rather than rolling with only Blough as the only QB on the roster.
On Monday, reports surfaced that the Lions were interested in signing quarterback Josh Johnson, but that move was blocked by the XFL. Johnson was the Lions backup signal-caller prior to the signing of Driskel, so the move would have made sense.
