An injury that forced Ennis Rakestraw Jr. to leave midway through the Detroit Lions’ first training camp practice isn’t expected to keep him out long term.
“Yeah,” head coach Dan Campbell said Monday, July 21, “he should be OK. Everything came back negative.”
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Campbell said the second-year cornerback will be out “a few days” and remains “sore” after he appeared to hurt his upper body Sunday. Rakestraw’s arm hung limply following a repetition during a team drill, and he appeared to be in pain as he clutched his shoulder soon after retreating to the sideline. The team later told reporters Rakestraw’s chest was being evaluated.
“Structurally everything looks pretty good,” Campbell said of the test results.
That is cause for relief in these parts.
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Detroit Lions cornerback Ennis Rakestraw Jr. (9) practices during training camp at Meijer Performance Center in Allen Park on Sunday, July 20, 2025.
Rakestraw’s fledgling pro career, after all, has already been significantly impacted by injuries.
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After being selected No. 61 overall in 2024, he was limited during the ramp-up period to his rookie campaign as he continued to recover from a sports hernia suffered during his college days at Missouri.
Then, in pregame warmups before the Lions’ Week 2 loss to Tampa Bay last September, he pulled his hamstring.
Although Rakestraw returned to the field, the strain lingered, and he only played 43 more snaps the remainder of the season before he was placed on injured reserve in late November.
This spring, after he returned to full health, the Lions expressed optimism Rakestraw could carve out a role as one of the top reserve players in the secondary. In workouts, he practiced exclusively outside after playing almost 50% of his snaps in the slot last year.
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“We’re really excited and looking forward to what he’s going to be able to bring this year,” general manager Brad Holmes said in April.
They’ll just have to wait a little bit longer before seeing whether Rakestraw can meet their expectations.
Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin on X.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ennis Rakestraw injury update: Lions CB expected to miss ‘a few days’