First 'true' Lions injury report for Divisional Round raises a possible concern

After earning a first round playoff bye, the Detroit Lions came back to work on Monday and their first practice of the week was on Tuesday. That session was only a walkthrough, with participation levels estimated, so Wednesday's practice was the first truly meaningful practice report of the week heading into Saturday night's Divisional Round game against the Washington Commanders.

The week off had been good news for running back David Montgomery, who rehabbed the MCL injury in his right knee rather than undergo surgery. He should be good to go for a typical workload in the backfield tandem with Jahmyr Gibbs, who held down the fort quite well as the lead back when Montgomery was out.

First Detroit Lions practice report for Divisional Round

Here is the Lions' practice report for Wednesday (FP=Full Participant, LP=Limited Participant, NP= Non-participant).

• OT Taylor Decker (personal)=NP
• DL Pat O'Connor (calf)=NP
• CB Ennis Rakestraw (hamstring/illness)=NP
• OG Kevin Zeitler (hamstring)=NP
• CB Terrion Arnold (foot)=FP
• RB David Montgomery (knee)=FP

Decker was absent from Wednesday's practice due to personal reasons. Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press set aside the left tackle's absence as "nothing to worry about", and Jeremy Reisman of Pride of Detroit reminded us Decker's wife may have had a baby she was due to have this month.

Zeitler suffered a hamstring injury against the Vikings in Week 18, and head coach Dan Campbell was fairly optimistic head into the week off. He was also listed as a non-participant on Tuesday's practice estimate, before being seen working off to the side with a trainer on Wednesday. Thursday's practice will ideally bring a ramp up to some level of participation in actual practice, but if Zeitler can't go against Washington rookie Christian Mahogany would be in line to start at right guard.

Heading into the bye week Campbell was not very optimistic about O'Connor, who was also injured against the Vikings in the regular season finale. Missing practice Wednesday was not a surprise with that in mind, and Thursday may bring an update from Campbell before the injury report.

Rakestraw is still in his 21-day window to be activated from IR, and an illness was the reason he missed practice on Wednesday.

Arnold suffered a foot injury in Week 18, but he was a full participant on Wednesday and looked to be moving around normally.

On Tuesday, Montgomery declared himself ready to go. Being a full participant on Wednesday, after being estimated that way Tuesday, locks in his return to action this week.

Here is the Commanders' practice report for Wednesday.