Detroit Lions' Eric Ebron leaves practice with hamstring injury
Dave Birkett
Eric Ebron's quest to play a full 16-game season for the first time in his NFL career is off to a rough start.
Ebron left the first practice of training camp Sunday with what Detroit Lions coach Jim Caldwell said appeared to be a hamstring injury.
Ebron did not take part in any team drills, leaving Darren Fells and Cole Wick to take reps with the first-team offense.
In three NFL seasons, Ebron has missed eight games with various knee and ankle ailments.
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He missed most of the preseason last year because of a severe ankle sprain he suffered in the team's mock game at Ford Field, then missed three October games with knee and ankle injuries.
Caldwell said he wasn't sure the extent of Ebron's injury, but he did not sound any alarms about it being a possible long-term ailment.
"He got a little bit of a tweak but we’ll see, see how bad it is," Caldwell said.
Still, given Ebron's injury history and the extent of the pain he played through last year, the Lions can't afford to have their No. 1 tight end dealing with injuries this fall.
Ebron set career-highs with 61 catches for 711 yards last season and is expected to play an even bigger role on offense this fall.
This spring, the Lions exercised the option on Ebron's rookie contract at $8.25 million for 2017. For now, the option is guaranteed only for injury.
The Lions held left tackle Greg Robinson out of team drills on Sunday, hours after activating from the non-football injury list. Cyrus Kouandjio took first-team reps at left tackle in his first practice with the team.
Running back Theo Riddick worked in a red no-contact jersey as he makes his way back from double-wrist surgery, and three players were absent from practice and not on NFI or the physically-unable-to-perform list: safety Charles Washington, who missed practice for personal reasons, defensive tackle Bruce Gaston and offensive lineman Tony Hills.
Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.