Injury Update: Ennis Rakestraw avoids major injury on Day 1 of Lions training camp

The Detroit Lions kicked off their 2025 training camp on Sunday, and after starting practice with nine players on injury lists and another three not participating, second-year cornerback Ennis Rakestraw went down with an injury. Fortunately, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport is reporting that Rakestraw “is believed to have suffered just a chest contusion… A positive outcome.”

The injury occurred behind the play, so the full details are not entirely clear, but Rakestraw appeared to have collided with an offensive player during an 11-vs-11 drill and remained down on the field, holding his upper chest area. After making it to the sidelines and receiving help from the Lions’ training staff, Rakestaw was escorted to the locker room and did not return for the remainder of practice. Soon after, the Lions PR team updated the media that Rakestraw “was being evaluated for a chest injury.”

Jeremy Reisman and I discussed the injury on the latest PODD post-training camp video (you can subscribe here), noting that while the injury looked significant in the moment, not all injuries have long-term consequences. For example, two seasons ago, Chauncey Gerdner-Johnson suffered what appeared to be a devastating knee injury, only to return to practice in full five days later.

For Rakestraw, the initial news is very positive, considering what it initially looked like, we still don’t have a timeline for when he may be able to return to the field. For that information, we will likely have to wait until Day 2 of training camp on Monday morning at coach Dan Campbell’s press conference before receiving any official word from the team.

In the meantime, take solace in knowing that Rakestraw took to social media to assure people that he’s “good.”

If you missed any of our observations from Day 1 of Lions training camp, you can catch up here.