Mikel Leshoure Injury: Lions RB Claims He Will Be 100% Entering Camp

The road to recovery has been a long one for Detroit Lions tailback Mikel Leshoure as he prepares to enter his second NFL season. While he is still expected to serve a two-game suspension to open the year after an offseason marijuana arrest, Leshoure's rehab from his Achilles injury has been better than hoped, and the former Illinois standout announced to fans on Twitter that he will hit camp at 100% health:

Leshoure's punishing running style offers a dynamic that the Lions could have used all throughout last season, which is why his puzzling off-the-field problems have been met with such scrutiny by Detroit fans. Because with very real, persistent injury questions surrounding Leshoure's fellow runners Jahvid Best and Kevin Smith, the 2011 second-round selection might end up with a make-or-break chance to prove whether he's worth keeping around long-term or not.

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Mikel Leshoure Looks Fully Recovered From Achilles Injury

While much has been made of Mikel Leshoure's recent suspension for his marijuana arrests, it can be easy to forget that the running back is also recovering from a torn Achilles tendon.

Leshoure took the field on Thursday for the first time since that injury and looked like a player fully recovered and ready to contribute.

"The Achilles feels real good," said Leshoure, a second-round pick in 2011 out of Illinois. "Today was my first pretty much full action as far as getting some runs and actually have to react from a defense. It felt real good. I felt like I made some cuts. I wasn't thinking about anything out there. Just going out there, playing and reacting."

Jim Schwartz had positive reviews for Leshoure, as well, telling Fox Sports Detroit, "We ran him left. We ran him right. He was making cuts off of defenders. He was making cuts as they appeared."

Leshoure, who missed all of last season, could make his Lions debut in Week 3 following his two-game suspension.

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Mikel Leshoure Injury: Lions Running Back Says He Will Be Ready For 2012 Season Opener

Detroit Lions running back Mikel Leshoure missed the entire 2011 NFL season after injuring his Achilles back in August during training. He had been doing quite well during the first two weeks of training camp before the Achilles tear cut the rookie's chances short.

After a full season's worth of recovery time, Leshoure says that he believes 100% that he is going to be ready for the 2012 season opener.

"I'm feeling pretty good when I run; I have no soreness or anything like that – no pain. I'm not full-speed sprints or cuts or anything like that, but just jogging in laps and half-gassers across the field and stuff.

"It's building up slowly and I can definitely see progress. I'm 100-percent sure I'll be ready for (season)."

The Lions running game was lackluster in 2011 with both Leshoure and Jahvid Best out with long term injuries. Getting both back in 2012 will help out their already potent offense led by Matt Stafford that took the Lions to their first playoff berth in a while last season. Leshoure was the Lions' second pick in the 2011 draft.

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Lions Place Mikel Leshoure On Injured Reserve

Detroit Lions running back Mikel Leshoure injured his Achilles last Monday. Immediately the Lions announced Leshoure would miss the entire 2011 season because of the injury. They didn't make it official until Sunday, though. That's when they announced that Leshoure was placed on injured reserve.

As Philip Zaroo points out at MLive, Leshoure will still count against the Lions' 90-man roster despite being placed on IR. Once the final round of roster cuts happens he will no longer take up a spot on the roster. For now the Lions don't want to risk exposing him to waivers to free up a roster spot, so he will still count against it.

In other roster news, the Lions signed cornerback Anthony Madison, who previously played for the Steelers. That move was first reported by Adam Schefter on Saturday and was confirmed on Sunday.

To make room on the roster for Madison the Lions released offensive tackle Tony Ugoh, who missed practice on Wednesday and Thursday for an unknown reason. There was talk that he was considering retirement, but it's not clear what was the cause of Ugoh's absence. In any case, he's gone for good now.

Lions Training Camp: Mikel Leshoure Tears Achilles, Out For Season

As soon as I published that Lions rookie running back Mikel Leshoure had been carted off the field with an apparent lower left leg injury, Detroit News beat writer Chris McCosky tweeted that Leshoure is out for the season with a torn achilles. 97.1 The Ticket tweeted that Jim Schwartz confirmed the injury.  According to SB Nation Detroit's medical experts, the injury was likely known as soon as Leshoure was tended to by team doctors on the field via the Thompson Squeeze test.

This isn't a completely devastating blow to the Lions offense, but Leshoure was having a great rookie camp en route to complementing the skilled Jahvid Best this year.

The Lions will almost certainly look to pick up another running back now that Leshoure is out for the season, so look for names like Ricky Williams, Laurence Maroney, or even former Lion Kevin Smith to pop up as potential replacements on the team's radar.