Detroit Lions place running back Jahvid Best on PUP list – NFL News
Against all hopes, Detroit Lions placed their running back Jahvid Best on the active/physically unable to perform list on Friday, July 27, 2012.
Best got a concussion in a game against San Francisco 49ers last season, after which he was placed on the injured reserves list. Giving reaction to this news, Best said:
"I think just in terms of everything that's been going around with concussions, everybody's being extra careful. If this was four or five years ago, I probably would have played last season. Now that everything's under a thin microscope, it takes a lot longer."
This news came as a surprise as both the Lions and Best gave comforting remarks about the injury throughout this offseason.
Earlier, Lions’ general manager Martin Mayhew had said that he was expecting Best to be cleared for contact in June. Best also said that he was fit and ready to go to training camp.
Head coach Jim Schwartz was optimistic about having Best on the field in coming days. He said:
“He has made tremendous strides in a lot of areas. But there’s still some areas that he’s got some ground to cover and like I said we have a lot of experts that are handling his case and we’ll defer to them and we’re very optimistic we’ll get him back.”
Best has a history of concussions since his college days. Best is an asset for Lions. Apart from Best, Lions are facing some other injury problems in the running game.
Last year’s draftee running back Mikel Leshoure is coming from an injury-plagued rookie season in which he was unable to play even a single game.
For violating the league’s substance-abuse policy, he will miss the first four games of the coming season.
During the absence of these two players, Lions’ running game will be led by Kevin Smith. This could also mean seeing more of kick returner Stefan Logan at running back.
Best was drafted by Lions as a 30th overall pick in the 2010 draft. Since his arrival in the league, Best has been unable to show his skills on the field, only because of injury.
It will be interesting to see how Best performs on returning after spending so much time out of the field.
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