Breaking Detroit Lions News: Zack Follett and Lions Appear to Be Parting Ways

Earlier this evening, Detroit Lions linebacker Zack Follett posted this on his Twitter account "Appreciate ya Detroit..To God be the glory!" I did not think much of it at that time, but he just followed it up with, "Respect to Schwartz Mayhew Lewand didn’t want to risk a life threatening injury after seeing my pain, Someone had to make the tough decision!"

Apparently Follett's neck has not healed the way he and the Lions had hoped, but he was trying to play through it anyway. Realizing the pain he was in, it appears the Lions' brain trust has decided to pull the plug on the young linebacker's career.

Injury problems have plagued Follett since his days at Cal. He quickly became a fan favorite in Detroit with his bone-crushing hits on special teams. He was handed a starting job in 2010, but was struggling at the time of his injury. He was trying to deliver another one of those special teams hits when something went terribly wrong against the New York Giants.

During the fourth quarter while covering a kickoff return, Follett was involved in a violent helmet-to-helmet collision with Jason Pierre Paul. He lay flat on the field for over five minutes while medical staff attended to him. Although he did not lose consciousness, he was immobilized and carted off the field. Soon after, the Lions placed him on injured reserve.

There was some optimism earlier in training camp when Follett was able to pass his physical. Unfortunately it now appears that the image of Follett on the stretcher will be the one Lions’ fans will have to remember him by. One can only hope that there is not any lasting damage, and his neck will not give him problems in the future.

On the football side of things, Follett was probably going to have to fight his way onto the team, so it will not have a big effect on how well the Lions do this year.