Conch shell the culprit for injury to Lions' Sam Martin

Allen Park — Sam Martin was done in by a shell.

According to multiple sources, the Lions punter suffered the ankle injury that sidelined him all of training camp and the first six games of the regular season while on vacation in the Bahamas this summer. And while the two accounts vary slightly — from whether he stepped on it or dropped it on himself — Martin was injured by a conch shell.

Martin and the team both declined the opportunity to confirm the story.

On Monday, Martin was happy to list off the things that didn’t cause the injury— from skateboarding to cliff diving to anything related to his dog — but declined to clear the air on cause of the summer injury, other than to call it a "freak accident" that could happen to anybody.

What’s now clear is Martin’s assessment is accurate and puts to rest the handful of false rumors that had spread, suggesting he was injured while recklessly putting his body at risk.

Martin returned to the lineup this past weekend, and outside of one shanked punt, appeared to quickly return to the form of his stellar 2016 campaign, when he posted the second-best net punting average since the league began tracking the stat in 1976.

Against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, Martin recorded touchbacks on all six of his kickoffs and averaged 50 yards on his other two punts.

jdrogers@detroitnews.com

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