Lions' Rakestraw pushing through pain to not lose positive momentum: 'I'm going to always fight until my body tells me no'
Allen Park — On the long walk from the field to the locker room inside the Detroit Lions practice facility, Ennis Rakestraw’s right hand never moved. It was slid under his jersey from the bottom, hidden from view, putting pressure on his opposite pec.
Rakestraw is unmistakably hurting, but the second-year cornerback is pushing through the pain. Eyeing a breakout mirroring the one teammate and close friend Terrion Arnold is experiencing entering his second season, Rakestraw didn’t even make it through the first practice of training camp before suffering an injury.
It was a freak play, a midfield collision, which left Rakestraw on the ground in agony. You fear the worst in those moments, cycling through amateur medical diagnoses from a distance. A separated shoulder? An AC joint sprain? A torn pec?
Each of those scenarios, and probably a few others, could have been season-ending. Those same fears hit Rakestraw like a second ton of bricks.