Advertisement

These 21 Lions players were held out vs. Colts

Lions head coach Dan Campbell took no chances with the important players on his Detroit roster in Friday night’s preseason finale. When the Lions hosted the Indianapolis Colts, 21 players sat out to avoid injury risk and to allow the reserves to battle for the final roster spots. Nearly all of them are starters.

On offense, the only projected starter who played at all was rookie right tackle Penei Sewell. He was in for the first 17 reps before taking the rest of the night off, and Sewell’s dire inexperience necessitated the risk of playing in the exhibition. Rookie wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown also played and figures to see extensive action in the regular season.

List

Lions roster bubble watch: 5 players who revamped their roster stock

Defensively, rookie nose tackle Alim McNeill and veteran DE Nick Williams, who is coming back from an injury that kept him idle much of training camp, were the only starters who played.

Here are the 21 Lions who sat out:

Of those sitting out, only Hand was definitively out with an injury. Hockenson, Swift and Tyrell Williams have been dealing with minor injuries but nothing that prevented them from playing if the outcome mattered.