While the Detroit Lions look to assemble their 53-man roster by Tuesday afternoon, they made a notable change to the roster on Sunday. Defensive tackle DJ Reader was activated from the PUP list after passing a medical.

Reader missed all of training camp and the preseason while recovering from the torn quadriceps tendon he suffered last December against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Lions signed him in March knowing he had a lot of rehab/recovery ahead of him, but also plenty of time to do it.

Had Reader remained on the PUP list at the start of the season, he would have missed at least the first four games. Last week, among other injury updates, head coach Dan Campbell suggested that Reader could begin individual drills at practice next week.

“I think we should also use Reader from the beginning and just work him into individual (exercises),” Campbell said.

Of course, in order to train, you would have to be removed from the PUP list. This announced step has now been made official.

Last week, Reader revealed he had suffered a setback in his rehab and had an endoscopy on his right knee in June. This was the second time in a month that he raised doubts about his status for Week 1 against the Los Angeles Rams, but he ultimately achieved his stated goal of staying off the PUP list to begin the season.

Even though he passed the physical and was removed from the PUP list, Reader’s status for the season opener two weeks from Sunday is unclear. He will definitely need some training, if only for conditioning. Ultimately, he may only be limited for one or two games early in the season. The Lions typically recover very slowly from injuries like this, so a calculated plan to boost Reader’s performance seems likely.

Regardless of what Week 1 looks like for Reader, whether in uniform or not, whether he plays much or not, it’s great news that he’s no longer on the PUP list given the upcoming roster cuts.