The timing could hardly be worse for Ennis Rakestraw.
According to , the Detroit Lions cornerback left Thursday’s practice early and is being evaluated for a lower-leg injury. Rogers reported that the injury occurred without contact, although Rakestraw was able to leave the field under his own power.
Until Detroit provides more information, that’s where the story stands. Walking off is encouraging. A non-contact injury is enough to make everyone wait nervously for the next update.
For Rakestraw, the frustration is obvious because he had finally started changing the conversation surrounding his training camp.
After an uneven preseason opener against Cincinnati, Rakestraw responded with his best stretch of the summer. He recorded an interception, pass breakup and tackle for loss during Monday night’s scrimmage, then followed that Wednesday with another strong practice that included a pass breakup and sack while earning some work with the first-team defense.
Detroit needed to see that version of Rakestraw. More importantly, Rakestraw needed to stay on the field long enough to keep showing it.
That has been the issue since the Lions selected him in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Rakestraw played only eight games as a rookie while dealing with hamstring and core muscle injuries, then lost his entire 2025 season after suffering a shoulder injury during training camp.
Staying healthy was such a major focus this offseason that Rakestraw added muscle specifically to make his body more durable. Defensive backs coach Deshea Townsend summed up the situation perfectly in June: “The role is there for him if he can stay healthy.”
Rakestraw himself declared in March that he had been fully healthy since December, setting up what was supposed to be his fresh start.
And there was legitimate opportunity waiting for him. Following Terrion Arnold’s departure, Rakestraw entered camp as one of the primary candidates to compete with Rock Ya-Sin for the starting job opposite D.J. Reed. Click here to read Our .
That’s what makes Thursday more than another name added to the training-camp injury list.
Rakestraw had been fighting his way back up Detroit’s depth chart. He was stacking good practices and beginning to look more like the physical outside corner the Lions thought they were drafting two years ago.
Now everything depends on the diagnosis.
Maybe Detroit gets good news and this amounts to a short interruption. The fact that Rakestraw left under his own power gives everyone something positive to hold onto.
But after two NFL seasons dominated by injuries, the last thing Rakestraw needed was another one just as his football was finally starting to do the talking.
