Well, what\u2019s the point in predicting 53-man rosters if a team is only going to keep 50?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the odd reality facing Detroit Lions writers this week after the team made a handful of surprising moves. None of which were more surprising than the team cutting three more players than they had to by the 4 p.m. ET Tuesday deadline.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s address that, and some other roster oddities, after the Lions\u2019 2025 initial cutdowns.<\/p>\n
Over at Pride of Detroit Direct, I claimed that the final five roster spots were going to be really tough to figure out, and I had 12 bubble players whose status would be hard to predict:<\/p>\n
WR Dominic LovettWR Jackson MeeksG Netane MutiG\/C Michael NieseEDGE Isaac UkwuEDGE Nate LynnDT Chris SmithDT Keith CooperLB Anthony PittmanDB Erick HallettS Loren StricklandS Ian Kennelly<\/p>\n
I thought those 12 players were fighting for five roster spots. Technically, they were, but it turns out Detroit would only spend two on the group\u2014one for Lovett, one for Smith. Three spots went to nobody. (Note: I also whiffed on Dan Skipper vs. Jamarco Jones.)<\/p>\n
The important thing to remember here is that most of these players are expected to clear waivers. Of this group, only Muti and Pittman have more than two years in this league. Most of these players have only a few snaps at the NFL level. A claimed player has to join a 53-man roster. Think back to the final preseason game. Did any of these players unequivocally earn a spot on an NFL roster?<\/p>\n
My guess is that of the 10 remaining bubble players who were cut, at least eight will return on the practice squad.<\/p>\n
But what about those three spots?<\/p>\n
Well, there\u2019s a pretty good chance the Lions have plans for those roster spots. Last year, Detroit cut down to 52 players, and after claiming Trevor Nowaske from waivers the next day, they were right back up to 53.<\/p>\n
This seems a little bit more than that. For one, it\u2019s hard to predict who will be on waivers\u2014and it\u2019s even harder to predict whether your waiver claim will be beaten out by someone with a higher priority. Additionally, three spots suggest that the Lions already have primary and backup plans for those roster spots. One additional possibility is that they already have an agreement in place with an unsigned or recently released veteran who was not subject to waivers.<\/p>\n
Which, of course, leads to more talk about\u2026<\/p>\n
Za\u2019Darius Smith is coming, right?<\/p>\n
Not only do the Lions have three open roster spots, but they opted to keep only three defensive ends on the initial 53-man roster. While Detroit can make up for some of that by utilizing players like Pat O\u2019Connor, Mekhi Wingo, and Derrick Barnes on the edge, it seems just as likely that a roster move at the position is coming.<\/p>\n
Smith and Lions general manager Brad Holmes have been doing a bit of a tango this entire offseason. Smith has made it clear he wants to be back in Detroit<\/a>. Holmes responded by essentially saying the ball is in his court<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s possible the Lions are thinking about a different edge player out there. Maybe Jadeveon Clowney or another player who was waived. But it has always made the most sense to just bring back Smith, where a re-acclimation period would be expedited after his time with the Lions last year.<\/p>\n What about all those injuries?<\/p>\n When projecting the Lions roster, it seemed likely the Lions were going to use at least one of two IR-to-return designations between Trystan Colon, Ahmed Hassanein, and Morice Norris. The Lions opted not to use the designation on any of them.<\/p>\n I\u2019m still figuring out how the Lions were able to cut Colon without any sort of injury designation or settlement. Perhaps he was medically cleared quicker than expected. Norris appears to have possibly made it through concussion protocol, so that\u2019s less surprising.<\/p>\n The Hassanein waiving with an injury settlement<\/a> was pretty stunning, to be honest. While I do think there\u2019s a very good chance he\u2019ll be back after the settlement is through (plus an additional three weeks), I don\u2019t understand the risk in putting him out on waivers when the IR-to-return designation was right there.<\/p>\n My best guess is that the Lions simply didn\u2019t want to burn one of their eight return from IR spots a team is given per season. Last year, the Lions used all eight, and coach Dan Campbell even admitted during training camp that last year\u2019s injuries have caused him to look at the roster through a new lens.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you have a year like we did last year, you get affected a little bit by it,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cIt has an effect on the way you think. Depth, depth, depth. We\u2019ve got to make sure that we have the depth.\u201d<\/p>\n If the team exhausts all their IR-return spots too quickly, it could cost them that depth down the line.<\/p>\n