Advertisement

"This is a fallout from an 80-man roster," Lions president Matt Millen said.

Lehman strained a hamstring during special-teams drills Friday. The injury will keep him out several weeks, but with NFL rosters down from 85 to 80 this year the Lions need as many healthy bodies in camp as possible.

By using IR-minor, the Lions can pay Lehman a to-be-determined injury settlement, release him, then wait six weeks from an agreed-upon date to sign him.

In Lehman's place, the Lions signed former USC linebacker Darnell Bing.

Guard Edwin Mulitalo also came off the physically unable to perform list and practiced for the first time Monday, and linebacker Ernie Sims (knee), guard Manny Ramirez (knee) and running back Artose Pinner (neck) returned to practice as well.

Defensive tackle Cory Redding (groin) and linebacker Buster Davis (concussion) missed practice Monday morning.

David Birkett covers the Lions for The Oakland Press. E-mail him at dave.birkett@oakpress.com and read his blog at Blog Central at theoaklandpress.com.