ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Second-round pick Kyle Van Noy is eligible to return to practice with the Detroit Lions this week after starting the season on injured reserve with designation to return. The outside linebacker underwent core muscle surgery in August.

“There is a chance from a medical standpoint that this is going to be his week to start coming back and getting a little bit more involved, and we’ll see what that looks like come Wednesday,” coach Jim Caldwell said Monday. “He’s a young guy who hasn’t had a chance to get in the mix of things right now where we are, so we’ll have to wait and see.”

Van Noy can’t play until Week 10 because the Lions are idle in Week 9, but when he does return, the Lions hope he can be another playmaker for a defense that ranks No. 1 in scoring and yardage.

“He’s athletic, he’s big, he can run, he can tackle, so we think he’ll have a positive effect wherever the contribution occurs,” Caldwell said of the 6-foot-3, 252-pound linebacker.

The Lions drafted Van Noy with the expectation he would be a Day 1 starter. Tahir Whitehead ultimately won the strong-side linebacker position after Van Noy’s injury, but with Whitehead moving to the middle in place of Stephen Tulloch, who’s on injured reserve, Van Noy will have to surpass Ashlee Palmer and Josh Bynes to get on the field.

–Rookie wide receiver TJ Jones, a sixth-round pick, could also return to practice this week. Because Jones is on the physically unable to perform list with a shoulder injury, the Lions have a five-week window in which Jones can begin practicing. After he returns to practice, the Lions will have another 21 days before they must add him to the 53-man roster.

“He’s about on the same path (as Van Noy), and it just kind of depends on what the doctors see with him this week as well,” Caldwell said of Jones.