Lions tight end Shane Zylstra’s season ended before it began when he took a hit to the knee in training camp. Lions coach Dan Campbell isn’t happy about that.
“First of all, feel awful for Zylstra,” Campbell said, via the Detroit News. “My gosh. He had the injury two years ago that man. That was a tough one. That was a tough injury he fought his way back from. And then you saw what he was able to do for us. He was a pivotal part of our success last year, once we started to turning the corner, and he just does everything right, man. He works, he’s a grinder, and then this one happens.”
Zylstra’s injury happened when he took a low hit from cornerback Khalil Dorsey, and Campbell said that’s the kind of hit that needs to be avoided on the practice field.
“Honestly, it shouldn’t happen,” Campbell said. “No, we’re not OK with that, and it’s been addressed. These things happen — the physicality of the game in pads — but that was preventable. It’s not what we do. And believe me, Khalil feels awful, too. We get that, but we got to take care of each other. You still have to be physical, we got to work each other, we got to compete, but we still got to take care of each other. We talked about it and we move on.”
There’s no moving on for Zylstra, who was waived with an injury designation and will hope to make it back next year.
