Lions place Danny Shelton, Desmond Trufant on injured reserve

Justin Rogers
The Detroit News

The Detroit Lions announced a number of transaction on Wednesday, headlined by the decision to place defensive tackle Danny Shelton and cornerback Desmond Trufant on injured reserve. 

The IR designation rules out either player from playing in at least the next three games. 

The Lions placed cornerback Desmond Trufant on injured reserve on Wednesday.

Trufant has been battling a hamstring injury since the first game of the season, previously missing five contests over two stretches with the strain. He aggravated it again on Thanksgiving, exiting the game against Houston in the second half. 

Shelton suffered a knee injury against Houston, which puts him on the shelf. 

To fill those two roster openings, the Lions activated rookie tight end Hunter Bryant off injured reserve and promoted defensive tackle Kevin Strong to the active roster, one day after he was signed back to the practice squad. 

Strong, an undrafted rookie a year ago, appeared in eight games for the Lions last season. He's spent much of this year on the practice squad, last appearing in a game in Week 2. 

As for Byrant, he has yet to debut for the Lions after suffering a hamstring strain in training camp and a concussion during an early-season practice. 

In addition to the transactions, the Lions also announced two defensive players currently on injured reserve will be returning to practice. Rookie defensive end Julian Okwara and cornerback Darryl Roberts will start their practice clocks on Wednesday, and the team has 21 days to add them back to the active roster. 

Practice report

The Lions were down five other players from Wednesday's practice. Wide receiver Kenny Golladay (hip), cornerback Jeff Okudah (shoulder), linebacker Christian Jones (knee), defensive tackle Da'Shawn Hand (groin) and wide receiver Quintez Cephus (not injury related) all sat out the session.

Golladay has missed four straight games and six total on the season.

"Kenny’s working," interim coach Darrell Bevell said. "He’s trying to get himself back, and he continues to go each and every day. There’s been that progress there."

Quarterback Matthew Stafford (thumb), running back D'Andre Swift (concussion), defensive end Austin Bryant (thigh) and wide receiver Danny Amendola (hip) were limited. 

The Lions remain optimistic about Swift's return to action this week. He's missed the past two games with the concussion. 

"I think it’s kind of been a little bit up-and-down for him,"  Bevell said. "Each day’s a little bit different as we come in. What we do is we take him through — it’s progressing so far, take him through it, then see the next day how he reacts to it. Some days there’s a step forward, some days you have to (say), ‘OK, I’ve got to stay here at this level,’ and we’ll continue to work from there."

jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @Justin_Rogers