ALLEN PARK -- Reinforcements are on the way for the Detroit Lions secondary, with Jamal Agnew activated to the 53-man roster before Wednesday’s practice.

Agnew became an All-Pro return man as a rookie last year, then won Detroit’s starting slot cornerback job coming out of camp this year. But all that ended back in Week 5 when he injured his knee while playing defense against the Packers.

The injury has had a domino effect on the Lions secondary. Nevin Lawson was forced inside to replace Agnew, which left one of the outside spots vacant. Teez Tabor got the first crack at it, but allowed 20 catches on 23 targets and was in coverage on four touchdowns. He also drew six flags and was still allowing a perfect QB rating on balls thrown his way through Week 10, at which point he was benched.

If he had enough snaps to qualify for ProFootballFocus' positional rankings, he would be the worst-graded cornerback in the game.

Undrafted rookie Mike Ford has replaced Tabor in recent weeks, though fared only marginally better. He’s allowed 23 catches on 25 targets, and quarterbacks have a passer rating of 132.1 when targeting him.

If Agnew returns to the slot, that would allow Lawson to slide back outside and should help patch over one of Detroit’s biggest remaining weaknesses on defense. Plus, it will offer a young player more time to develop before the games start mattering again in 2019.

“I think he’s someone that works really hard, and has really done everything we’ve asked to push through his situation,” coach Matt Patricia said. “The beginning part of the year and the first part of the spring, there was a lot of growth and a lot of development there, not only on special teams, but on defense, which was great to see. He’s someone that was helping us earlier in the season, and at least put in a situation to be competitive, and that was good.

"But obviously we’re in a different transition phase now where we just got to get ready to go with the team and he’ll be up and working this week to see where he’s at. Obviously, hasn’t played football in a long time, so can’t really make any predictions there until we get a chance to take a look at him.”

Agnew takes the roster spot of Kerryon Johnson, who was moved to injured reserve with a knee injury.