Dan Campbell: 'Freak' injuries not the fault of Lions training staff

The Detroit Lions ranked among the most injured teams in the NFL this season for the second straight year, but Lions coach Dan Campbell defended his team’s training staff in his end-of-season news conference Monday, Jan. 4, and chalked some of his team’s poor health up to bad luck.

“For whatever reason, we’ve just kind of been hit,” Campbell said. “I like our training staff. I think they do a hell of a job, I really do. And it’s just, it was a tough year in some areas."

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The Lions ranked second in the NFL in games missed due to injury heading into last week’s season finale against the Chicago Bears, according to Sports Info Solutions, and for the second straight year their most serious injuries were concentrated on the defensive side of the ball.

The Lions had their Week 1 starting secondary of D.J. Reed, Terrion Arnold, Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch together for just four games this season. Reed missed six games with a strained hamstring, Arnold missed nine games with shoulder injuries, Joseph missed 11 games with a knee problem and Branch missed four games with a torn Achilles tendon and a fifth on suspension.

Tight end Sam LaPorta (eight games missed), left guard Christian Mahogany (six) and defensive end Marcus Davenport (nine) also missed significant time due to injuries suffered this year.

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The Lions had 304 total missed games due to injury through Week 17, according to SIS. Total games missed through Week 18 were not available yet, though the Lions were comfortably ahead of the third-place Buffalo Bills (281) and behind the first-place Bears (318) in the category.

Last year, the Lions finished eighth in adjusted games lost due to injury, a metric by analytically based For The Numbers Fantasy that weighs the impact of injuries. The Lions had the second fewest adjusted games lost on offense last season and the most on defense, where injuries were concentrated on their defensive line.

Campbell said the Lions have done a good job avoiding preventable soft-tissue injuries, and that the major injuries they’ve suffered the past two years have been mostly of the unavoidable variety.

Branch ruptured his Achilles tendon while trying to break up a pass in the end zone, LaPorta said his injury was due to an accumulation of hits and Aidan Hutchinson broke his leg last year when it whiplashed against teammate Alim McNeill.

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Other players like Joseph and Davenport are dealing with degenerative conditions or have long injury histories.

“If you’ve got a major soft tissue issue then it’s more than just the player, in my opinion,” Campbell said. “There’s other factors. We’ve been great. I mean, we do a great job of preparing our players. When you start talking about, ‘It’s an Achilles, it’s a –‘ man, those are, unfortunately those are freak things.”

The Lions went 15-2 despite their injury problems last season, and the Bears won the NFC North despite having the most games lost due to injury this year, so poor health doesn’t fully explain why the Lions missed the postseason with a 9-8 record this year.

Campbell said he’s tried different ways to manage his team’s health and indicated he won't pull back dramatically in his approach next year.

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“As far as practice, I’ve done everything,” Campbell said. “I’ve done from walk-throughs, to we go (hard), to doing a little bit of both. So at the end of the day I know this: You got to get your team prepared to play and so that’s what I’m always going to hang my hat on.”

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: Dan Campbell says Lions training staff not to blame for freak injuries