Detroit Lions gear up for postseason run by adding veteran depth to practice squad

Some teams use their practice squad to develop young talent. The Detroit Lions are re-configuring theirs to help navigate any roadblocks that arise in what could be a long playoff run.

The Lions signed veterans Bruce Irvin, Michael Schofield and Kindle Vildor to the practice squad this week, adding three players with a combined 265 games of NFL experience at some of the thinnest positions on their roster.

Irvin gives the Lions another edge rush presence, Schofield has experience playing multiple positions on the offensive line, and Vildor adds cornerback depth after spending time earlier this season with the NFC-leading Philadelphia Eagles.

"It’s hard to find players as the season goes on here that you may need," Lions coach Dan Campbell said Wednesday. "That gives us some veteran guys that have played some football, that we have interest in. They have versatility. And that’s really what it is right now. Let’s see where it is."

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Irvin is the most intriguing of the new additions given his NFL experience — 11 seasons with five different teams — and the Lions' inconsistencies in the pass rush.

The Lions (7-2) have had three games with five or more sacks this season and six games with one or no sacks. They rank 25th in the NFL in sack percentage (6.5%) and do not have a player with more than 4.5 sacks this season.

Campbell said Irvin, who has 55.5 sacks in his career, worked out Tuesday and showed that, even at 36 years old, he has "a quick first step, he’s got power and he can bend."

"He's got superhuman genes," Campbell said. "I mean, this guy, he takes great care of himself, but he’s not in football shape. He’s in shape, but he’s not in football shape so we got to get him there first and then we’ll see where he goes."

Irvin, who hasn't played football since Week 18 last season, likely won't be in the Lions' playing rotation Sunday against the Chicago Bears. But the 36-year-old can play outside linebacker or defensive end, and he's added insurance in case James Houston can't make it back late in the season from the fractured fibula he suffered in Week 2.

Vildor, 25, who made 22 starts in his first three NFL seasons and appeared in two games as a backup with the Tennessee Titans earlier this year, adds depth to a secondary that lost Emmanuel Moseley to a torn ACL in October and has been without safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson since mid-September because of a torn pectoral muscle.

And Schofield, similarly, gives the Lions a veteran backup on an offensive line that's dealt with myriad injuries already this season. The Lions have started seven different offensive line combinations in their first nine games. Swing tackle Matt Nelson is out for the season with an injury, and the Loons placed guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai on injured reserve Tuesday.

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Schofield, 33, made 86 starts over eight seasons with the Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers, Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers. The former Michigan offensive lineman played primarily right tackle and right guard in his career.

Campbell said Vaitai, who opened the season as the Lions' starting right guard, is unlikely to play again this year.

"Just a little bit of residual effect of (the back injury he had last year)," Campbell said. "There’s nothing easy about the injury he’s had to come back from, then he had the knee (injury earlier this year). He’s been rehabbing this thing for a long time. He’s put in a ton of work. And that’s not easy. That’s not easy at all. He's the type of guy, you ask him how he’s doing, he always says he’s fine. That’s just him. So no matter what, I told him, we want him around here, he wants to be around and he’s still very much a part of us and what we are here."

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions add 3 vets to practice squad, place OL Hal Vaitai on IR