The Lions held the final significant practices before Tuesday’s roster cutdown deadline this week. With Friday’s preseason finale in Charlotte against the Carolina Panthers the final chance to win or lose roster spots, the team is very close to finalizing the 53-man roster.
There isn’t a ton of drama over the constitution of most of the roster. However, there are a few final spots up for grabs. They make for very difficult decisions for head coach Dan Campbell, GM Brad Holmes and the Lions braintrust.
Here are the five toughest cuts or decisions to project for the Lions’ final 53-man roster.
How many running backs to keep?
The top two RBs are David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs. That much is certain.
After that, it gets a little complicated.
Craig Reynolds appears to have seized the No. 3 spot with a good training camp and work on special teams throughout the summer. Reynolds sure feels safely on the 53-man roster.
Jermar Jefferson, Benny Snell and Devine Ozigbo are all hoping the Lions keep at least one more. Of that group, Jefferson has the most upside, Snell the best special teams resumé, and Ozigbo the best receiving skills.
Then there’s fullback Jason Cabinda, who has struggled all summer with ball security and hasn’t been great at blocking, either. Would the Lions cut the immensely popular locker room figure to keep a better backup RB? Doesn’t seem likely but it’s hard to know.
Two UDFA CBs?
Emmanuel Moseley was signed to be one of the outside CBs, but his availability for the start of the season is doubtful at best, even with a recent positive step forward.
Saivion Smith was moving to outside CB too, but he’s now gone with an injury settlement.
That leaves a couple of unanticipated openings. Will the Lions have the temerity to give the roles to two undrafted rookies?
Starling Thomas and Steven Gilmore have both played well this summer. Thomas brings speed to both the defense and special teams. Gilmore offers stickier coverage and defensive playmaking.
They’re both worthy of making it individually, but having the outside CB depth behind starters Cam Sutton and Jerry Jacobs (himself a former UDFA) fall to two undrafted rookies is a difficult notion to swallow for a team with legitimate playoff aspirations.
This is a tough one. The other current options on the roster, namely Khalil Dorsey, Colby Richardson and Chase Lucas, are all greenhorns as well. None have outperformed either Thomas or Gilmore on either defense or special team. Will Harris and Brian Branch do have outside CB experience, but that’s not something we’ve seen the Lions tap into other than in very limited reps all summer.
The Okwara brothers
Right now, the Lions have two Okwara brothers on the roster. Both Romeo and Julian play the EDGE spot, though they approach the pass rush spot with divergent skills and bodies.
It’s possible that neither Okwara will be on the roster after Tuesday.
Romeo is definitely the safer of the brothers. He offers more positional versatility, being capable of playing any DE spot and has even kicked inside in “NASCAR” rush packages. No. 95 also took a pay cut to stay in Detroit and has been with the Lions longer (joined by Tracy Walker) than any other defensive player.
Julian lit up the Giants with three sacks (Romeo added another) in the preseason win. But he was playing the entire second half as the last man on the Detroit depth chart at EDGE. He’s not moved up in the practice rotation since, either; Julian is seventh of seven at a position where the team might only keep five, and his inability to both contribute in run defense or special teams and also reliably stay healthy make his grasp on a roster spot tenuous.
The trade winds blowing around Julian could make this a moot decision, and that might be the best way to handle splitting the brothers Okwara.
Backup offensive tackle(s)
This is another decision where both the quantity of players kept and who comprises that quantity are both open questions.
It’s not been pretty for Detroit, just as it hasn’t been for most every NFL team. Matt Nelson has been the swing tackle for the last three years, but he’s had a rough summer. His development appears arrested, and his lack of athleticism to recover when he’s initially beaten has been problematic, to be kind.
Veteran journeyman Germain Ifedi has been better than Nelson, especially in pass protection. But “better” is a relative term. Young Obinna Eze has taken some strides in his second season, but he still struggles with the law of diminishing returns on height. That’s true of 6-foot-9 undrafted rookie Ryan Swoboda, too.
Whether they keep one or two, and who those players might be, both seem very undetermined entering the final preseason game.
WR depth
The options at wide receiver become more important due to the six-game suspension for erstwhile starter Jameson Williams.
After Amon-Ra St. Brown, Josh Reynolds, Kalif Raymond and Marvin Jones, the WR picture is quite variable. How many more will the Lions keep, and who will it be from this group:
Maurice Alexander
Dylan Drummond
Chase Cota
Trinity Benson
Antoine Green
Avery Davis
Jason Moore
The final two are major longshots, though Davis has done a good job of getting open and stretching the field in practices.
Drummond has been the best of the group despite being a player who worked his way up from being a local rookie tryout invite. His route running, hands and craftiness have consistently stood out. Another UDFA, Cota has steadily progressed and offers good size and athletic upside. Green, the team’s seventh-round pick, has even more of those attributes but hasn’t consistently translated them to the football field.
Alexander is in contention because he could very well be the kick returner. Aside from that aspect, he’s also the most natural slot receiver. Benson is proven on special teams units and sometimes flashes the strength and speed at wideout that remind folk why Brad Holmes traded for him two years ago.
Another thing to consider here at WR: this is the most likely position for the Lions to claim someone waived by another team and usurp a role from one of the above. Do they keep an extra WR on the initial 53 knowing that it’s a position where they can dump someone the next day if the Lions get a successful waiver claim?
