Lucas was ranked as the 160th overall prospect on the consensus big board<\/a>, the sixth-highest rated prospect who wasn\u2019t drafted over the last weekend. While the Lions added Derrick Moore in the second round and signed DJ Wonnum in free agency, there\u2019s room for Lucas to make an impression in camp and earn a role.<\/p>\nBrandon Knapp: TE Miles Kitselman <\/p>\n
I am once again discussing why tight end is an important part of this team\u2019s offense. If Kitselman can impress enough in training camp, he could be a good player to keep around as a backup or third stringer. While I don\u2019t think Sam LaPorta gets traded, you could argue that Kitselman could fight for as high as the backup role if he excels this season. The Lions could trade away someone like Brock Wright if they believe Kitselman has a role on this team. With the offense adding more 13 personnel to its playbook, the more tight ends, the merrier.<\/p>\n
John Whiticar: QB Luke Altmyer <\/p>\n
I personally doubt that any undrafted rookies make the 53-man roster this season. That being said, I think Altmyer could make a legitimate impact… in the preseason. As the third quarterback on the roster, Altmyer will undoubtedly get significant snaps in the preseason. Jared Goff may not see a single snap, while veteran Teddy Bridgewater does not need many reps himself. That leaves a lot of looks for Altmyer.<\/p>\n
Altmyer doesn\u2019t have the athletic potential that Hendon Hooker did, but I actually think he has a higher floor than the former draft pick. Last season, evaluating the offensive depth was impossible because of how poorly Hooker played. If Altmyer plays at a modest level, it will do wonders for evaluating the position battles on offense. It will likely not help Altmyer\u2019s chances of making the team, but it could help another player in turn.<\/p>\n
Erik Schlitt: TE Miles Kitselman<\/p>\n
Kitselman is an inline\/blocking TE-Y who has enough positional versatility and skill to earn a TE4 spot on the Lions\u2019 roster. His above-average run blocking will get him on the field, but his sneaky route running will make him a matchup problem in 13 or 12 personnel groupings.<\/p>\n
Al Karsten: DT Aidan Keanaaina<\/p>\n
One of the more glaring holes on the roster following free agency and the draft is depth behind Tyleik Williams at nose tackle, especially as his role shifts toward the interior anchor role previously handled by DJ Reader and Roy Lopez last season.<\/p>\n
That makes Aidan Keanaaina an intriguing name to watch\u2014and the Lions clearly agree, giving him $300,000 guaranteed to compete for those depth snaps. The former Notre Dame transfer played nearly 1,000 snaps for Cal over the last two seasons, piling up over 100 combined tackles while holding down the picnic basket for the Golden Bears\u2019 defense.<\/p>\n
Keanaaina brings a build and athletic measurables reminiscent of Johnathan Hankins\u2014a sturdy, space-eating interior presence who can hold the point and muddy things up inside. There\u2019s a real path for him to carve out a rotational role behind Williams and push for a spot on the 53-man roster.<\/p>\n
Jeremy Reisman: DT Aidan Keanaaina<\/p>\n
With the recent losses of Roy Lopez and DJ Reader, the Lions need a big run-stuffer. Oddly, the Lions haven\u2019t really added much of anyone in that department (even Jay Tufele is only 305 pounds and hasn\u2019t played a lot of true nose tackle). Unless the Lions are doing away with that role, Keanaaina has the clearest path to some playing time among this entire class, and the 320-pound defender has plenty of experience there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Detroit Lions\u2019 2025 season was the first time in 15 years that an undrafted rookie didn\u2019t make…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":626905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[2131,16911,5192,349,99],"class_list":["post-626904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-detroit-lions-analysis","tag-detroit-lions-draft","tag-detroit-lions-opinion","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/626905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}