| Detroit Free Press
Detroit Lions’ Darrell Bevell cutting his teeth with … defensive meetings
Detroit Lions interim head coach Darrell Bevell speaks to the media on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020.
Kenny Golladay’s recovery from a hip injury has gone slower than expected, but interim Detroit Lions coach Darrell Bevell said the fourth-year wide receiver is making “progress” towards a return.
“I think he’s pushing himself,” Bevell said. “It’s a day-in, day-out thing where we monitor it. We push him to a certain level, next day, see (how) the body reacts to it, and then we come back the next day and go from that plan, that day forward. There’s always, I don’t know if you want to say setbacks, I wouldn’t use that word. I would just say that you have to see how the body reacts the next day.”
Golladay has not played since the first half of a Nov. 1 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. He sat out the next two weeks, returned to practice Nov. 18, but could not finish that week and missed the Lions’ past two games.
[ Lions defense thins out with Danny Shelton, Desmond Trufant on IR ]
On Wednesday, Golladay, who also missed two games to open the season with a hamstring injury, spent the open portion of practice running on the side with trainers, indicating he is nearing a return.
The Lions, who are 1-5 without Golladay and 4-7 on the season, have played their last two games without Golladay and running back D’Andre Swift.
Swift practiced on a limited basis Wednesday and remains in the NFL’s concussion protocol two weeks after reporting a brain injury.
Bevell said Swift is “close” to returning, though he still must be cleared by an independent neurologist.
“It’s kind of been a little bit up and down for him,” Bevell said. “It’s progressing so far, take him through it, and then see the next day how he reacts to it. Some days there’s a step forward, some days you have to, ‘OK, I’ve got to stay here at this level,’ and we’ll continue to work from there.”
Along with Golladay and Swift, linebacker Christian Jones, defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand (groin) and receiver Quintez Cephus (not injury related) did not practice Wednesday.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford remains limited on the Lions’ practice report nearly three weeks after partially tearing ligaments in his right thumb. Danny Amendola (hip) and Austin Bryant (thigh) also were limited in practice.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.