To get ready for their Week 16 game against the Minnesota Vikings, the Detroit Lions went back to the practise field on Wednesday.

Jerry Jacobs was one of the players who refrained from participating in the media-accessible portion of practise.

In the meantime, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, the safety, made his practise debut after tearing his pectoral muscle against Seattle in Week 2.

The veteran safety starts a 21-day period during which the Lions must decide whether to activate him or not. It just so happened that Gardner-Johnson turned 26 on Wednesday.

Jacobs, an Arkansas State product in his third year of cornerback play, has been a vital component of Detroit’s defence this year. The former undrafted free agent has participated in 13 games, including 12 starts.

He did not start at cornerback last week for the first time this season, as Khalil Dorsey replaced Cam Sutton in that role. In the victory over Denver, Kindle Vildor and Dorsey shared reps.

Jacobs participated in special team play prior to being sidelined due to a hamstring injury.

Due to Jacobs’ injury, the Lions saw visits from cornerbacks Thomas Graham and Jace Whittaker on Tuesday.

Although he leads the club in interceptions (3), the gifted defensive back has occasionally had trouble covering this season.

According to Pro Football Focus, he has surrendered 47 completions on 71 targets for 602 yards and seven touchdowns this season.

Dan Campbell and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn are making some changes, one of which is pulling Jacobs from the starting lineup. In the past two games, Ifeatu Melifonwu has started at safety while Vildor and Dorsey have seen more playing time at cornerback.

We believed it improved us. After the game, Campbell stated, “Give them an opportunity to go, and now we have Jerry back on teams as well.” These days, Jerry plays well on special teams as a jammer and gunner. We simply keep working through it as a result. Allow these guys to compete and give them a chance. We performed well today, and those players had strong back-end play.

The Lions’ victory on Sunday would be the organization’s first division title since 1993, thus the game is quite important.