| The Detroit News
A day after the Detroit Lions ruled out three of their top offensive players for Sunday’s road game against the Carolina Panthers, it was the defense’s turn to absorb a pair of losses. The team announced both defensive tackle Da’Shawn Hand and defensive end Austin Bryant have been downgraded to out.
Hand, who has battled durability issues throughout his first three seasons, had not missed a game in 2020. But a groin injury that limited him during Thursday and Friday’s practices proved to be severe enough to sideline him this week.
As for Bryant, he’s been dealing with a thigh injury that also popped up mid-week.
Similar to Hand, Bryant has struggled to stay healthy early in his career. He was limited to four games as a rookie in 2019 due to multiple injuries, and only recently returned to the team this year after a lengthy stint on the physically unable to perform list.
With defensive end Trey Flowers on injured reserve with an arm injury, the Lions immediately thrust Bryant into significant playing time. He earned the first start of his career last week against Washington, playing 44 of the team’s 88 defensive snaps.
The bad news for the two defenders follows the announcement running back D’Andre Swift (concussion) and wide receivers Kenny Golladay (hip) and Danny Amendola (hip) won’t play on Sunday.
The Lions have until 4 p.m. Saturday to make additional roster moves. Among the options, the team can temporarily elevate two players off the practice squad to address pressing depth issues.