Leshoure and Bentley weigh in on their returns with the Lions

ALLEN PARK, Mich. - Calvin Johnson, who sat out of practice on Wednesday with a sore foot, made his return to practice today looking like his old self.

In fact, Megatron spent more time talking about how excited he is for the return of running back Mikel Leshoure, who has finished his two-game NFL suspension and appears to have made a solid recovery from a ruptured Achilles tendon.

"He's a big back man [and is] hard to take down," said Johnson. "We saw that in the preseason game he got to play in. He brings a lot of excitement, you know, not just to the offense but right to the team. [We're] looking forward to getting his running game going; not that we don't have good backs already but he's another compliment for us."

How much Leshoure compliments the running game remains to be seen.

"[I've] just been doing a lot of running, a lot of cardio [and] I've been lifting everyday," said Leshoure, who looked crisp during practice on Thursday. "Basically doing my same routine except for not going to practice and going through our walk through and things that I was restricted to do."

Rookie cornerback Bill Bentley, who sat out of the San Francisco game after sustaining a concussion against St. Louis, is relishing his return.

"I'm excited. [I am] just glad to be back with the team, nothing more, nothing less," said Bentley with a huge smile. "I'm glad to be back on the field ready to contribute wherever I'm needed at."

"Any player that's part of our packages -- No. 1 we have back-ups; No. 2 we have other packages that we can accentuate in case somebody can't go [on game day]," said Jim Schwartz, the Lions head coach. "And that goes for our tight ends, that goes for our wide receivers, that goes for our running backs. I think that you need to be built that you have contingency plans if you get an injury in the game or you get an injury coming into a game."