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    • Detroit Lions LB Derrick Barnes hits rehab after torn MCL, PCL
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    Detroit Lions LB Derrick Barnes hits rehab after torn MCL, PCL

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    Derrick Barnes entered the training room on Wednesday for his first rehab session with Detroit Lions coaches when he bumped into Aidan Hutchinson.

    “I didn’t even get a hello when I walked in there,” Barnes said. “She just started giving me shit from the beginning and Brett Fisch (she, the Lions’ director of player health and performance) was throwing tissues at me saying I’m going to make you cry during this PT But I almost did— oh sure though.

    Barnes spoke with reporters Wednesday for the first time since suffering a likely season-ending knee injury in Week 3 against the Lions. win over the Arizona Cardinals.

    He told the Free Press that he tore his MCL and PCL in his right knee, but didn’t suffer any ACL damage and didn’t know the full extent of the injury until he went to Houston for surgery last month.

    “The ACL was fine, so the recovery is obviously shorter now than it would have been,” Barnes said. “Thank God I woke up and he said he didn’t have to do anything with the ACL.”

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    Barnes still faces a long road to recovery, one that will likely keep him out the rest of the season.

    He spent the first five weeks after surgery on crutches and in a knee brace and began physical therapy with his old Purdue coaches.

    Barnes came off his crutches last week, returned to Detroit Tuesday night and plans to stay with the Lions for the remainder of his rehab. He hasn’t started running yet, but he said he hit a milestone in his rehab on Wednesday.

    “I didn’t know I was going to be able to ride a bike today,” Barnes said. “I got on the bike, rode in the water a bit, which was good for me. And my leg was really stiff and today is the first day I felt normal and it was pretty good.”

    Barnes had the best start of his NFL career before the injury, with nine tackles in the Lions’ first two games. He started at strongside linebacker and gave the defense the versatile presence it has lacked at the position since Dan Campbell and Aaron Glenn took over as head coach and defensive coordinator in 2021.

    A fourth-round pick out of Purdue, Barnes is in the final year of his contract and seemed headed for a big payday in March before the injury.

    He admitted Wednesday “that was a concern of mine” but said: “I’m a God-fearing man and I believe in the Lord and the things He has for me.”

    “The first two weeks, it’s tough,” Barnes told the Free Press. “I’ve thought about it a lot, but I look at my faith and I know everything will work out in my favor, but now it’s more about trying to get back to 100 percent and trying to get back to my normal self. And then, obviously, it was an important season, but for me every season is important, whether it was the contract or the first year, the third. I’ll get to that battle when I get to it.”

    The Lions lost four of their top quarterbacks this season in Barnes, Hutchinson (broken leg), Marcus Davenport (torn triceps) and John Cominsky (Torn MCL). Davenport is out for the season, Cominsky could return in the playoffs, and Barnes said he’s taking a Hutchinson-like approach to his rehab and is holding out hope. may return for the Super Bowl.

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    He said he thinks chop blocks like the one he was injured in should be banned, but said he can’t complain too much “because I hit.”

    And as happy as he is to see the Lions atop the NFC with an 8-1 record, he said the injury and time away from his teammates has given him a new appreciation for the game.

    “Everything was just starting to happen, but still, when I get my body right, I’ll have full confidence in myself and how my body will respond,” he said. “I know my whole mind will be there. I’m still going through the playbook a bit and making sure I understand it and it’s still there. So no, everything will be fine. And however long it takes, it will be. work out.”

    Dave Birkett will be signing copies of his new book.Detroit Lions: An Illustrated Timeline” at 7 p.m. Nov. 18 at Applebee’s in Auburn Hills. Order your copy here. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.

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