Caldwell Says Warford's Injury Not Season-Ending
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
ALLEN PARK (CBS DETROIT) - Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell will not put a timetable on the return of right guard Larry Warford, but he did say Wednesday that Warford's injury is not season-ending.
"He's making progress," Caldwell said. "I can tell you for certain that if we have a guy that's not going to be back for the entire year, we're going to tell you. We're going to let you know. Every time it's happened to us I think we've let you know that. We're not trying to hold something like that back. That makes no sense. He's not in that category at this point in time. If he ever does get in that category or anyone else, we'll certainly, absolutely let you know."
Warford, wearing a knee brace in the locker room Wednesday, said the injury upset him but that he quickly realized he needed to leave Sunday's game against the Miami Dolphins rather than try to play through the pain.
"My knee felt weird," Warford said. "It just felt like really loose or whatever. It hurt, but I was trying to play one more play, and then ... I was pass blocking and he made an inside move on me. I couldn't really plant my foot or sustain myself or stabilize. I was just like, 'You know what, I can't do this to the team. I'm hurting the team that I'm in right now.' So I was just like, 'I have to get out.'
"It could be much worse," Warford added later. "I'm just trying to get back in the training room and get back as quickly as possible."
Replacing Warford will be Detroit's third-round draft pick Travis Swanson - the heir apparent to center Dominic Raiola - who played most of Sunday's game after Warford suffered his injury.
"You know your time's going to come at some point," Swanson said. "You just don't know when. I could tell that first play Larry got hurt, I was like, 'He's got to come out at some point, so just get ready.' As far as playing guard in there and how it felt, I thought it went good. First few plays you had to get your feet wet again because it had been a while, but it went good."
