Lions: Notebook

Injuries turn Lions practice into a walkthrough

Tim Twentyman / The Detroit News

Allen Park -- Injuries have hit the Lions worse than most teams around the NFL. It's gotten so bad that it's becoming hard just to find enough bodies for practice.

"I had initially scheduled practice for (today), but I think we're going to have an hour-and-a-half walkthrough instead, because I don't think we are going to be in the position where we can have enough bodies on the practice field to actually do a practice," Lions coach Jim Schwartz said.

The Lions were down six starters in their loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. In all, the Lions have placed five players on injured reserve and had 12 players that missed or were limited in practice last week.

Defensive end Copeland Bryan (sprained MCL) and Daunte Culpepper (hamstring) were added to the list of injured Lions this weekend in Green Bay. The most serious injuries continue to be those to rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford (knee) and receiver Calvin Johnson (knee), but Schwartz said there was a possibility they could both play against the St. Louis Rams after the bye week.

Depending on the severity of Culpepper's hamstring injury, third-year player Drew Stanton could be the only healthy quarterback on the roster for today's walkthrough.

"You can make it through practice. We can do different things," Schwartz said when asked how he practices with just one quarterback.

"We can emphasize run game. We need to emphasize the run game. We haven't run the ball very well and we haven't done a good job of stopping the run, so there are plenty of spots we can work instead of throwing the football."

Henry to safety?

Schwartz and defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham are still trying to find the right combinations in the secondary.

Schwartz said he's toying with the idea of trying cornerback Anthony Henry out at safety. Henry lost his starting cornerback spot and didn't play on defense against Green Bay.

Henry worked at safety during training camp because of injuries and Schwartz said he's very capable of stepping in and playing there.

"That's something that's been talked about and that goes way back to even in the spring with him," Schwartz said. "That's been in his skill set and he's even played inside at nickel (corner) before. We'll look at all those things."

But all this is news to Henry.

"They haven't spoken to me about anything, so I don't know what's going on with that," Henry said.

Roster moves

The Lions lost one of their rookie draft picks Tuesday when the Dolphins signed offensive tackle Lydon Murtha off their practice squad. Teams claiming other teams' practice-squad players must add them to their 53-man roster.

To fill Murtha's spot, the Lions signed defensive tackle Joe Cohen , a 2007 fourth-round pick who was released by the Raiders on Aug. 31.

Murtha, a 6-foot-7, 310-pound tackle out of Nebraska, was one of three seventh-round picks the Lions kept on their practice squad along with tight end Dan Gronkowski and linebacker Zach Follett , who was signed to the 53-man roster two weeks ago.

No deal

The Lions made no moves during Tuesday's final day of the trade deadline.

ttwentyman@detnews.com