TUESDAY, 6:25pm: Bostic will be out for 6-12 weeks, tweets Josina Anderson of ESPN.com. That timeline is obviously pretty wide-ranging, but Bostic could be a candidate for injured reserve/designated to return.
MONDAY, 8:00pm: Lions linebacker Jon Bostic had surgery today and will be sidelined indefinitely, head coach Jim Caldwell told reporters, including Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press (Twitter link). When asked by Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com (Twitter link) to specify what part of the body Bostic had surgery on, Caldwell said: “I’m not going to be clear. He just, he had surgery.”
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Bostic, a former second-round pick, represented the first deal between Lions general manager Bob Quinn and his former team, as Detroit acquired Bostic from the Patriots in May. The former Florida Gator is no stranger to being traded after a September swap shipped him from the Bears to the Pats. In 2015, he appeared in eleven games (one start) for New England, recording two tackles.
Not long ago, however, Bostic was looked at as a promising youngster. As a rookie with the Bears, Bostic played in all 16 games with nine starts on the year. In total, he notched 57 tackles, two sacks, and an interception in 2013. He followed that up in 2014 with a career high of 83 tackles.
The trade that sent Bostic to Detroit was based around a conditional seventh-round pick, so if Bostic is not able to play during the upcoming season, it’s fair to assume that the Patriots won’t be receiving any compensation. Bostic isn’t a vested veteran, so he’d have to be waived/injured and clear waivers before being placed on injured reserve, as Birkett tweets. The Lions might not want to risk exposing Bostic to waivers, hence their reluctance to place him on IR just yet.
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