The Detroit Lions have placed Canadian offensive lineman Giovanni Manu on injured reserve.
Manu was originally listed as questionable for Sunday Night Football in Week 6 against the Kansas City Chiefs after he was limited in practice by a knee injury. He will now miss at least four games until the team could choose to activate him again.
The 24-year-old started his first career NFL game in Week 5 against the Cincinnati Bengals, helping the Lions win 37-24. The six-foot-seven, 350-pound blocker started at left tackle and allowed two sacks on 28 pass-blocking snaps, which earned him a 42.2 grade from Pro Football Focus.
Manu told Justin Rogers, founder of the Detroit Football Network, he fell well short of his standards. “It almost feels like everybody’s trying to feel sorry for me, and it’s just like, man, f*** that,” Manu said.
“I was encouraged, he’s young, he’ll learn from his mistakes. If he gets another chance, he’ll do better — the more reps you get, the better you’re going to become. It’s important to protect the blindside of the quarterback,” offensive coordinator John Morton said on Thursday.
“I do think it was encouraging, I really do. There were some things communication-wise or technique-wise that he could’ve done better. But we won the game, the plan was set up to protect that side, the coaches did a great job with that.”
The Pitt Meadows, B.C. native was selected in the fourth round, 126th overall, during the 2024 NFL Draft out of the University of British Columbia. That made him the first U Sports player to be drafted by an NFL team since David Onyemata was selected out of the University of Manitoba in 2016. He spent his entire rookie season in a reserve role.
Manu has earned over $2.1 million USD in the NFL.
