It’s still not nearly as clean as hoped for, but the Detroit Lions practice participation report for Thursday’s session looks a lot more promising than Wednesday’s first edition.

After nine players were idle on the first practice of Week 16, all but three returned in some capacity to Thursday’s practice. Two of the three who remained out are starting offensive linemen, however.

Left guard Graham Glasgow and center Frank Ragnow both remain sidelined. Glasgow is listed with a knee injury, while Ragnow has a back malady. The injury status could help explain the substandard performances from both in the Week 15 loss to Buffalo.

The other player remaining out is running back David Montgomery, who is expected to miss the rest of the season with an MCL injury. Montgomery and the Lions are still in the evaluation process on how to handle his torn knee ligament.

Safety Brian Branch upgraded from out with a listed calf issue on Wednesdsay to full participant on Thursday.

Five players who rested on Wednesday returned in full:

LT Taylor Decker
WR Amon-Ra St. Brown
DT DJ Reader
RG Kevin Zeitler
EDGE Za’Darius Smith

It was also the first sighting of LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin. He’s been on I.R. for several weeks but has started his 21-day activation window. Reeves-Maybin, a key special teams player as well as subpackage LB, was limited with his neck injury.

Another player designated to return from I.R., safety Ifeatu Melifonwu made it through a second straight practice as a full participant. He’s missed the entire season with an ankle injury and a subsequent hand injury that forced the Lions to activate him — only to immediately place him back on I.R. His second activation window began on Monday.