Detroit Lions cornerback Justin Coleman was placed on injured reserve Tuesday after suffering a hamstring injury in the first half of Sunday's 27-23 loss to the Chicago Bears.
The earliest Coleman could return from injured reserve would be against Jacksonville in Week 6 because Detroit is off in Week 5.
Hamstring problems have been an issue for the Lions throughout camp. Receiver Kenny Golladay and cornerback Jeff Okudah missed Sunday's game with hamstring injuries, and Coleman and cornerback Desmond Trufant left the game after injuring their hamstrings.
"It's a leaguewide thing that everyone's looking at," Lions coach Matt Patricia said Monday. "It's really groins and hamstrings. I would say those are the two areas, and then after that would be calves. It's kind of that posterior chain that goes down through the back of your leg that right now we're looking at from the stress on those."
Patricia said that Lions staff has recognized the condensed offseason -- no spring workouts and a shortened training camp period because of the coronavirus pandemic -- as a potential source of injury. The third-year head coach said last week that the Lions are trying to figure out how to prevent hamstring-type injuries from lingering.
"The one thing that we're trying to do, and really why you'll see it on the injury report a lot, is we're trying to prevent them from being long-term type of soft-tissue injuries," Patricia said. "So even if we get guys that are tight, that may be on the milder side, maybe a seven-, 10-, 14-day type stuff; we're trying to prevent the four-week type of injury there."
The Lions will potentially replace Coleman in the lineup with Darryl Roberts, Tony McRae or Okudah if he returns from his hamstring injury. Trufant's injury also bears watching, because if he can't play, Detroit will end up very thin at the position against Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay on Sunday.
It's possible Detroit will look to sign a cornerback out of workouts this week as well.
Coleman had one pass defensed before leaving Sunday's game. In 17 games with the Lions, he has made 54 tackles with one interception, 14 pass breakups and three forced fumbles.