MKRob Sports

Detroit Lions rookie tight end Brandon Pettigrew will have season-ending surgery after suffering a left knee injury in Thursday’s 34-12 loss to Green Bay.

Coach Jim Schwartz had hoped Pettigrew’s injury wouldn’t be too serious because the swelling wasn’t too bad after the game. But an MRI exam today revealed significant damage.

Pettigrew, the No. 20 overall pick in the NFL draft, went down early in the first quarter. His knee buckled without contact as he maneuvered to make a block. He suffered a torn ACL in high school; Schwartz said he thought it was the opposite knee as Thursday.

The injury is a big blow as the Lions try to develop their young players for the future. Pettigrew was coming off perhaps his best performance, catching six passes for 72 yards in Sunday’s 38-37 victory over Cleveland — including the winning touchdown with no time left.

“I think we saw him today play the way we expected when we drafted him,” Schwartz said after that game. “It was a play that we’d worked on. It was a play that we liked against their defense. We liked the guy that was going to get the ball. He made a lot of first-down catches for us, some good run-after-the-catch. That was all part of the reason that we drafted him.”

Pettigrew will finish his rookie season with 30 catches for 346 yards and two touchdowns.