The Detroit Lions have another case of COVID in their defensive back room.
The Lions placed cornerback Nickell Robert-Coleman on the practice squad reserve/COVID-19 list Tuesday.
Robey-Coleman is the ninth Lions player to test positive for COVID in the past nine days, part of a league-wide outbreak that has forced several teams to play shorthanded.
The Lions promoted seven practice squad players to their game day roster for last week’s loss to the Denver Broncos and could face a similar roster crunch Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.
Center Evan Brown, running back Jamaal Williams, safety Tracy Walker and cornerbacks Bobby Price, Ifeatu Melifonwu and Mark Gilbert are on the reserve/COVID list, and Robey-Coleman, Corey Ballentine and Tavante Beckett are on practice squad COVID IR.
Robey-Coleman played 62 snaps against the Broncos after the Lions lost starting cornerback Jerry Jacobs to a torn ACL, and was expected to be in line for a big role again this week.
NFL players who test positive for COVID must miss a minimum of 10 days. Vaccinated players can return sooner if they produce two negative tests 24 hours apart.
“I thought he did some real good things (Sunday) and we put him in a hard spot, but that guy’s been there every day on practice squad, just giving us a look,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “His attitude’s great. He gets no reps defensively, per se, and goes in there and did what he did yesterday, that’s a true pro now. That’s a dude who loves ball and gives everything he’s got.”
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The Lions, who held virtual meetings Monday and had a player day off Tuesday, added reinforcements for their secondary Tuesday, claiming cornerback Saivion Smith off waivers from the San Francisco 49ers and signing Shakur Brown and Chris Williamson to the practice squad.
Smith made his season debut last week against the Cincinnati Bengals. Last year, he started one game for the Dallas Cowboys.
The Lions have had six COVID cases in their defensive backs room – Walker, Price, Melifonwu, Robey-Coleman, Ballentine and Gilbert – since Thursday.
Across the NFL, 36 players tested positive for COVID on Monday and another 29 players were placed on the reserve/COVID or practice squad reserve/COVID lists Tuesday.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.