Herrera May Miss Lions Game; Sullivan May Get First Career Start

Lost in all the Williams confusion has been Anthony Herrera‘s absence from practice this week while he dealt with the death of his older brother.  Showing a tad more compassion than he did to Troy Williamson during Grandmagate last year, Brad Childress said he wants to see where Herrera’s head is at before declaring him the starter at right guard this Sunday against Detroit (Herrera has been able to return to practice).  There are a couple different ways Chilly can go if in fact Herrera is not able to play.  One would be to play Artis Hicks in Herrera’s spot and reinstall Ryan Cook as the official starter at right tackle (Cook actually started the last game there because Hicks was injured).  Another would be to leave Hicks at right tackle with Cook as the back-up and play somebody else at right guard, mostly likely John Sullivan, the guy drafted to be Matt Birk‘s replacement at center, who has been getting snaps at guard according to Sean Jensen.  A third would be to introduce a revolutionary four-man line, two tackles, a guard and a center – which might be all you need against the Lions.  All right, I take that back…the last time I got cocky before a Lions game we needed a last second field goal to beat them.

There has been one other bit of roster news this week:  Robert Ferguson, who hadn’t been playing at all, was cut to make way for Patrick Kennedy, the large defensive tackle the Vikings signed as insurance in case Pat and Kevin aren’t allowed to play.  Let’s watch to see if anyone jumps on Ferguson like he seemed to think someone would if he ever got his release.  I’m guessing no.