Report: Bill Bentley Out For Season After Tearing ACL On Monday Night
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
ALLEN PARK (CBS DETROIT) - Detroit Lions cornerback Bill Bentley tore his ACL in the team's season opener Monday and will not return this season, according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.
Bentley had walked off the field following his injury against the New York Giants, but the Lions used a cart to take him from the sideline to the locker room, and after the game Caldwell said an ACL tear had not been confirmed but did not rule out that possibility.
Last week the team worked out future Hall of Fame cornerback Champ Bailey - who played only five games last season and had been dealing with injury - but did not sign him. With Bentley out for the year, however, the Lions will likely be making some acquisition at the position soon.
Rashean Mathis and Darius Slay are the starting cornerbacks for the Lions, but with Bentley out of the picture, the team's depth there consists only of Cassius Vaughn and Nevin Lawson, a rookie. The Lions also have undrafted rookie Mohammed Seisay on their practice squad.
The injury bug that plagued other teams throughout the preseason finally caught up with the Lions, and it stung more than Bentley. During Monday's game the Lions also had to replace right tackle LaAdrian Waddle because of a calf injury, and safety James Ihedigbo missed the entire game because of knee and neck ailments that had caused him to miss practice during the week.
Lions coach Jim Caldwell said in his press conference Tuesday that the team would know more on the injuries by the end of the day, though those updates would not necessarily be made common knowledge.
Besides Waddle and Corey Hilliard - who was also examined by trainers during the game - the Lions have only two other tackles on the roster - Riley Reiff, who starts on the left side, and rookie Cornelius Lucas, whom Detroit picked up as an undrafted free agent.
Caldwell declined to discuss any injuries but acknowledged the team will consider the health issues and evaluate whether it needs to make roster moves to shore up positions that may be a little thin.
"Obviously any time that you have one person that may be questionable, you have to look at it and be ready to make some adjustments," Caldwell said. "Each and every game in this league there are always going to be instances that you have injuries. It's 100 percent injury rate, so it shouldn't be [surprising] for anybody, me or anyone else in this room, that when things do happen like that there are going to be things that we have to make adjustments in order to fill out the depth that we have and the people that we work with, so that's why we're evaluating right now to see what we have to do in that regard."
