Injuries aren't something to ever be celebrated, but after Thursday's news out of Detroit, it'd be hard to blame Matt LaFleur for feeling at least a little bit of relief.
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The injury news out of Detroit just keeps getting worse. Only a few days after the Lions lost longtime starting center Frank Ragnow to injury-related retirement, head coach Dan Campbell told reporters after practice that another starter – linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez – would be missing a not-insignificant amount of the early season while recovering from a knee injury.
Lions staring LB Malcom Rodriguez won't be available for Week 1's game against Packers
It's probably not that surprising to hear that – considering that Rodriguez hurt his knee during the Lions' Thanksgiving game last year – he still won't be ready until November, but it's just yet another tough blow for a Detroit team that has now spent the better part of two years dealing with injury issue after injury issue. This, along with the current Alex Anzalone contract issues that are starting to crop up, makes the Lions' linebackers room look awfully thin. For a team that prides itself so much on being physical on both sides of the ball, that's a tough spot to be struggling to mightily before the season even starts.
Injuries like this are never good news, but the Packers have to at least be a little thankful that they're probably going to get to play a crucial division game – Week 1's matchup in Green Bay – against the NFC North favorite without one, or maybe even two, of their starting linebackers. NFC North wins are going to be hard to come by in 2025, and getting the Lions at their weakest could pay dividends down the road, when they're presumably a little more healthy and making an inevitable playoff run.