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Lions injury updates on Cedrick Wilson Jr. (knee), Sione Vaki (back)
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- Lions injury updates on Cedrick Wilson Jr. (knee), Sione Vaki (back)
The Detroit Lions lost one of their leading contenders for the No. 5 receiver job to a knee injury in the first quarter of their 17-13 preseason win over the Washington Commanders.
Cedrick Wilson Jr. injured his left knee about eight minutes into the game on the Lions ' third offensive series, when he ran a route on an incomplete pass to Tom Kennedy.
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Wilson grabbed at the back of his leg as he briefly sat on the ground after the play before hobbling off the field, and Lions coach Dan Campbell said after the game he's "worried" about the extent of the injury.
"I'm worried on that one," Campbell said. "I love Wilson, man. He just, he's a smart, crafty football player, gets it. Can play all the spots at receiver, special teams and we don't know. We're getting that knee looked at. We don't know, but we'll leave it at that."
Wilson, 30, was the most accomplished veteran vying for a back-end job at the back of the Lions' receiver room. He had catches on back-to-back plays for 4 and 17 yards before getting hurt Saturday, Aug. 22.
Lucky Jackson was the only other receiver with multiple catches for the Lions on Saturday, and Tay Martin had a big block to spring Josh Dobbs for a 50-yard touchdown run and drew an illegal blocking penalty on the Commanders while covering a kickoff on special teams.
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"That room is hard," Campbell said. "That room is very difficult right now because there are guys that are making plays."
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Campbell updated two other injury situations for the Lions after Saturday's game:
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Running back Jabari Small was in concussion protocol after carrying three times for 16 yards against the Commanders, Campbell said.
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Running back Sione Vaki did not play Saturday after because of a back spasm. Vaki returned to practice last week after he broke his nose when he took an inadvertent hand through the facemask on the first padded practice of camp. "He woke up yesterday and he had something, kind of a knot in his back here that was – it's not major but it's enough to where it's one of those bad spasms to where we were hoping we could get it out of there, give him some stuff and hopefully loosen it out and just we ran out of time with it," Campbell said. "Now the good news, we would have loved to have seen him. I told him that. He wanted to play, but he also, man, he got some really good work come off a broke nose, a punched out eye. And so I'm like, I think we're good Vaki for a little bit here. And so we'll get this to calm down, he'll be ready to practice this week, I would anticipate, so I think we'll be OK there."
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Offensive lineman Michael Niese also was on crutches in the locker room after the game after injuring his leg while blocking downfield on a screen play in the second half.
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com . Follow him on Bluesky , X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions injury updates on Cedrick Wilson Jr. (knee), Sione Vaki (back)
