Due to their head-to-head advantage over the Minnesota Vikings, who are also 13-2 and lost to Detroit in Week 7, Dan Campbell’s team, the Detroit Lions, are 13-2 and leading the NFC North after an impressive 2024 campaign. In Week 17, the Lions will play the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football at Levi’s Stadium.
Despite having one of the league’s strongest rosters, the Lions have suffered greatly from injuries, particularly at linebacker. Dan Campbell declared team captain Alex Anzalone out for six to eight weeks due to a broken forearm in Week 11, which was the most devastating injury at the position.
In order to add depth at the position following Anzalone’s injury, general manager Brad Holmes added linebacker David Long Jr. to the practice squad on November 18. Before being cut by the Miami Dolphins on November 13, Long Jr. played in the first eight games of the season.
Before being cut by Detroit on Monday, Long Jr. played in five Lions games and recorded seven tackles. The 28-year-old found a new home quickly after the Tennessee Titans, who selected him in the sixth round of the 2019 NFL Draft, claimed him off waivers on Wednesday. Reuniting with Long Jr. makes sense because the Titans also placed starting linebacker Kenneth Murray Jr. on season-ending Injured Reserve.
Long Jr. has 86 total tackles in 12 games in 2022 while playing with the Titans after spending the first four seasons of his career with Tennessee. In the 2023 offseason, the former sixth-round pick agreed to a two-year contract with the Dolphins. He participated in all 17 Miami games that year and recorded 113 total tackles. Long Jr. has had a tremendous year in 2024, but he will finish the season with the Tennessee Titans, where his NFL career started.