MLive’s Kyle Meinke and ESPN’s Eric Woodyard caught up with Lions free-agent addition DJ Reader and learned more about his rehab, recovery, and timetable to return.
Relatively speaking, the Detroit Lions have dealt with relatively few injuries during the early days of training camp, and that’s the hope for every team around the league this time of year. A healthy team is a happy team with all the promise in tact for the upcoming season.
Lions fans are hoping the team’s biggest free agent acquisition is going to be ready come September 8, the Week 1 opener against the Los Angeles Rams , but there’s some cause for pausing those hopes.
Reader tore his right quad in Week 15 of the 2023 season, the most recent time he’s suffered the injury in his career since suffering a torn left quad during Week 5 in 2020—his first season with the Cincinnati Bengals . While he remains on the Physically Unable to Perform list (PUP), Reader is eligible to return to practice whenever he’s able to since he was placed on the list prior to training camp.
While the rehab continues, Reader knows the ebb and flow in the road to recovery from this injury, and he’s still feeling positive about the process.
“I feel great,” Reader said to MLive. “Out there just working, feeling good. Just trying to get some strength back. Feeling good. It’s the process with rehab nowadays. Been through it before. You’ve got your days where you feel great, and some days it’s not as good. But it’s been good. Been on the up and up, and haven’t had any setbacks.”
On Tuesday, Reader was hesitant to confirm to ESPN’s Eric Woodyard if he’d be ready for Week 1.
“I don’t know exactly Week 1 or whatever, but feeling good, feeling better and just really working,” Reader reiterated to ESPN. “Every day it’s getting better. It’s not like I’m not doing stuff, so I’m doing drills and doing stuff, but I’m not really too worried about the upper body strength.”
If Reader remains on the PUP list when Detroit is making their roster cuts, the Lions will be forced to make a decision: move him to PUP/reserve—which would mean Reader missing the first four games of the season—or activate him and count him against the 53-man roster. Reader said his goal is to get off PUP before then.
Lions’ DJ Reader hasn’t participated in team drills during camp yet as he continues to recover from a torn quad. However, he told ESPN that he’s trying to stay off the PUP list during the season. He’s still unsure when he’ll return.
— Eric Woodyard (@E_Woodyard) July 30, 2024
Reader figures to be a key piece to the interior of Detroit’s defensive line, not only in their continued success at stopping the run, but also an added dynamic to their pass rush alongside Alim McNeill—one that this regime has yet to find in their first three seasons.