The Lions are paying Ezekiel Ansah more than $1 million per week, but they’ve only gotten a quarter out of him so far this season.
But Lions coach Matt Patricia defended his star defensive end, saying the absence since a shoulder injury in the opener was solely because of his physical condition.
“Don’t make it anything more than that,” Patricia said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “That guy’s a competitive guy, he wants to play football. He’s trying to do the best he can to help this team. So he’s day by day, we’re taking it day by day. We’re trying to get him ready to go. As soon as he can go, he’ll help us.”
There were times it appeared Ansah was getting closer to a return. He practiced on a limited basis in Week Two, and said then he hoped to not miss any time because of the injury. He practiced three days in a row the following week, but was inactive against the Patriots. He didn’t practice the following week, but did last week, yet was inactive again against the Packers.
While some were wondering if Ansah was stalling until he was fully healthy (as Earl Thomas suggested before his unfortunate season-ending injury), Patricia rose to his defense.
Ansah’s playing on the franchise tag this season, after failing to reach a long-term deal with the team. He’s making $17.143 million this year, before he heads to free agency next spring.
