Injury updates: Amon-Ra St. Brown’s clean-up surgery, Malcolm Rodriguez’s timeline

Detroit Lions injury updates following the final practice of spring OTAs.

The Detroit Lions wrapped up their spring Organized Team Activities (OTAs) on Thursday, and in a post-scrimmage scrum with the media, All-Pro wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown revealed that he has not been practicing due to an off-season clean-up procedure.

“I had a surgery on my knee after the season, “ St. Brown said. “Just to clean some stuff up. So, I’ve been rehabbing that, but I should be good to go for training camp.”

(Note: special thanks to the team at the Detroit News for sharing audio of St. Brown’s media scrum after Pride of Detroit’s audio was compromised.)

St. Brown tweaked his knee in Week 12 against the Colts (his only official knee injury as a professional), missed a practice during the week, and carried a questionable designation into Week 13 . Despite the limited practices, St. Brown still managed to play 94% of offensive snaps against the Bears on Thanksgiving, catching five of his seven targets for 73 receiving yards in a Lions victory.

Ahead of OTAs, coach Dan Campbell provided an update on the rehabilitation process of fourth-year linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez, who tore his ACL against the Bears during the same Thanksgiving day game.

“Yeah, he’s not going to be starting the season out,” Campbell said of Rodriguez. “If I— conservatively: November. Yeah, that’s probably the best way to say it. Probably November. Somewhere in there.”

November does seem a bit conservative for an ACL injury on a younger player, but it’s a smart timeline for the coach to establish, as it doesn’t set unrealistic expectations.

As for Rodriguez, he’ll surely be hoping for a quicker return to the field, as he is in the final year of his rookie contract and will be looking to show his value as he heads toward his second NFL contract.