DETROIT -- With three receivers out because of injuries, Quintez Cephus earned an emergency start in the loss against Seattle. Now he’s hurt, too.
Cephus left the game in the third quarter with a foot injury and did not return. Sounds like he could miss more time as well, yet another setback for a young player whose development has been curbed by injuries.
“He could be (out) a little longer, but I don’t know what that is,” head coach Dan Campbell said. “I don’t know how bad that is yet.”
A fifth-round pick in 2020, Cephus was pressed into a starting job when injuries and attrition gutted the receiver corps early last season. He was good enough to become the best receiver in Detroit, but broke his collarbone during a Week 5 game in Minnesota, ending his season early.
Cephus returned in time for training camp, although missed several weeks with a back/hip injury he sustained while making an acrobatic catch in practice. He made it back in time for the start of this season, but additions like Josh Reynolds and DJ Chark over the last year left him buried in a backup role. He played just 18 offensive snaps in the first three games of the season, and was not targeted with a pass, although he did deliver a key block on the 58-yard end-around by St. Brown in the win against Washington.
Then St. Brown and Chark were sidelined against Seattle because of ankle injuries, while Reynolds was slowed by an ankle injury of his own. First-round pick Jameson Williams hasn’t played at all while recovering from an ACL tear he suffered in college, leaving Detroit without three of its top four receivers against the Seahawks.
So Cephus returned to the starting lineup, and delivered a huge catch too, a 6-yarder that helped move the chains on a fake punt in the first half. That led to a big field goal early in the game, when Detroit’s injury-ravaged offense was still struggling to find a rhythm.
But then Cephus left the game in the second half, leaving Detroit even more strapped at the position than ever.
Guard Evan Brown also left the game in the fourth quarter because of an undisclosed injury, while cornerback Amani Oruwariye (neck) and linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez briefly departed before returning.
“We’ll see tomorrow how they are,” Campbell said. “But that’s usually a good sign they were able to come back.”
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