Detroit Lions safety Avonte Maddox left Thursday night’s 41-31 loss to the Buffalo Bills with a left foot injury, and head coach Dan Campbell said afterward that the veteran’s exit made him nervous.
Maddox went down early in the second quarter with Buffalo leading 14-0 and facing first-and-goal from the Detroit 4-yard line. He collided in the end zone with teammate Chuck Clark while in coverage.
He walked gingerly off the field, was carted to the locker room and was ruled out in the third quarter. Maddox left the stadium in a walking boot and on crutches, according to Detroit Football Network.
Campbell said the Lions would know more after testing Friday.
“I don’t know. Maddox is pretty tough, so when he doesn’t come back that makes me nervous,” Campbell said. “But I won’t know until tomorrow for sure.”
Clark said he apologized to Maddox as he came off the field and again in the locker room after the game, according to the Detroit Free Press. He called it friendly fire and said he hated how it happened.
Detroit was already thin at safety.
Brian Branch (Achilles) and Kerby Joseph (knee) opened the season on the physically unable to perform list and must miss at least the first four weeks. Maddox and Clark had started both games in their place.
After Maddox left, Thomas Harper took over at safety. Christian Izien played mostly at nickel cornerback. The Lions also lost reserve cornerback Rock Ya-Sin to an injury later in the game, and Campbell did not provide an update on him.
Buffalo scored on a 1-yard touchdown pass two plays after Maddox went down to go ahead 21-0. The Bills finished with 248 passing yards.
The secondary had already lost a starter over the summer. The Lions released cornerback Terrion Arnold, their 2024 first-round pick, in late June after he was arrested in Florida on felony charges of armed robbery and kidnapping.
Maddox, 30, is in his ninth NFL season. He spent his first seven seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and won a Super Bowl with them after the 2024 season.
A Detroit native who played at Martin Luther King High School, Maddox signed a one-year deal with the Lions before last season and re-signed this offseason. He has appeared in 96 career games with 45 starts.
He finished Thursday’s game with three tackles.
Linebacker Jack Campbell took responsibility for the defensive performance after the loss.
“I’m gonna be honest with you. Hats off to them; played terrible. It starts with me, and I feel like it’s on me. I gotta be better,” Jack Campbell said. “And I ain’t got no other thing to do but look in the mirror and be better so that’s really where it starts. It starts with us, but yeah, they did a good job.”
The Lions have given no timeline for Maddox. Should the foot injury keep him out, Harper and Izien would take on bigger roles until Branch and Joseph are eligible to return.
Detroit, 1-1, has 10 days before hosting the New York Jets at Ford Field on Sept. 27 at 1 p.m. ET.
