Lions Part Ways With 41-Game Running Back After Preseason Injury

The Detroit Lions are parting ways with short-term summer help at running back after a preseason injury.

The Lions announced on Tuesday that they released Raheem Blackshear after he suffered an injury.

“The Lions released Blackshear (undisclosed) from their injured reserve list with an injury settlement Tuesday, per the NFL’s transaction log,” CBS Sports noted. “Detroit placed Blackshear on its injured reserve list Monday, and the club is now cutting ties with him altogether just one day later. Once he’s deemed healthy enough for football activities again, he’ll be eligible to suit up for any team willing to sign him.”

The Lions had signed Blackshear on Aug. 4 after running back Sione Vaki suffered a broken nose when a defender’s hand got under his facemask while making a tackle and starter Jahmyr Gibbs was holding out from practice while seeking a new contract.

Blackshear came into the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Buffalo Bills in 2022, missing the team’s final cuts and joining the Carolina Panthers. He appeared in 41 games over the next three years, rushing for 205 yards and scoring three touchdowns.

The Lions had looked around for help before signing Blackshear, working out Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Hassan Haskins and Kylin James along with Blackshear that week.

The Lions have some pending decisions to make in the running back room, with six backs still on the depth chart and likely three spots on the final roster. SI.com reporter John Maakaron predicted that the Lions would have parted ways with Blackshear along with the oft-injured Vaki.

“Sione Vaki, while being a top special teams player, cannot only hang his hat on impressing Dave Fipp,” Maakaron wrote. “He is often injured and not a player the team can rely upon, especially given how well Jacob Saylors has performed throughout the preseason.”

Vaki just missed a key opportunity to prove himself, missing the team’s second preseason game after a late injury.

“He woke up yesterday, and he just had kind of a knot in his back here,” said head coach Dan Campbell. “It’s not major, but it’s enough to where, it’s one of those bad spasms to where we were hoping we could get it out of there. Give him some stuff to hopefully loosen it out. We ran out of time with it.”

Campbell added that the team wanted to see Vaki on the field, noting that he had made a lot of progress.

“Now the good news, we would have loved to have seen him. I told him that. He wanted to play,” Campbell said. “But also, he got some really good work, coming off of a broke nose, a punched out eye. I’m like, ‘I think we’re good Vaki for a little bit here.’ We’ll get this to calm down. He’ll be ready to practice this week, I would anticipate. I think we’ll be okay there.”

Like HEAVY's content?Be sure to follow us.

This article was originally published on HEAVY

The post Lions Part Ways With 41-Game Running Back After Preseason Injury appeared first on HEAVY.