Lions Lose Rookie Leshoure For Season

Added on Aug 08, 2011 by Scott in

NFL

Fantasy football owners and Detroit Lions fans take note. Rookie running back Mikel Leshoure will miss the entire 2011 season after rupturing his Achilles tendon during today’s morning practice. He suffered the injury after being hit by defensive end Cliff Avril.

The second-round pick out of Illinois was expected to compete for the starting running back job with last year’s first-round pick Jahvid Best. At the very least, the 6’0″ 230-pound bruiser would’ve provided some much needed size in the Lions backfield and a strong goal line presence.

Leshoure dominated Big Ten competition in 2010, rushing for 1697 yards and 17 touchdowns. He was the fourth runner selected in this past April’s Draft, after Alabama’s Mark Ingram, Virginia Tech’s Ryan Williams and Cal’s Shane Vereen.

The Lions have had terrible luck with running backs in recent years. Best played in all 16 games a year ago, but nagging injuries limited his production to only 555 yards on 171 carries. On the bright side, he did catch 58 passes for 487 yards and a pair of scores.

In addition, 2008 third-round pick Kevin Smith tore his ACL late in 2009 and never really recovered. He saw action in only six games in 2010 and was eventually released in March. He has yet to sign with another team. 2004 first-rounder Kevin Jones also saw a promising Lions career derailed by a series of injuries after rushing for 1,133 yards as a rookie.

Joining Best on Detroit’s current depth chart of backs are Aaron Brown, Matt Clapp, Jerome Felton, Ian Johnson and veteran Maurice Morris. The free agent list is chock-full of available players, including Laurence Maroney, Jerome Harrison, Dominic Rhodes and Correll Buckhalter.

The Lions are once again a trendy pick to make a playoff surge in the NFC. If quarterback Matthew Stafford can stay healthy, they have the makings of a potent offense with Best, wide receivers Calvin Johnson and Nate Burleson, and tight ends Brandon Pettigrew and Tony Scheffler.

Source: NFL.com