
The Detroit Lions are going to be without one of their starting offensive lineman for the first month of the regular season.
The team officially placed starting right guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai on injured reserve on Monday afternoon. That means that he’s out for at least the first four weeks.
Vaitai has spent the last two seasons with the Lions after playing the previous four with the Philadelphia Eagles. He spent those four seasons rotating between right and left tackle before switching to guard when he signed with the Lions.
He’s started in 25 games over his last two seasons and has 45 starts in 80 appearances over the course of his career.
The Lions will now have to figure out who replaces Vaitai for these next few weeks. Logan Stenberg and Tommy Kraemer were the backup guard on the 53-man roster that was finalized last week.
The Lions will open their 2022 regular season on Sept. 11 against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Kickoff will be at 1 p.m. ET.