This offseason, the NFL changed its roster rules to a single cut at the end of the preseason, meaning teams can carry 90 players on their roster until they trim to 53 after the final preseason game.
That’s good news for the Detroit Lions, because they’ll need all of the next three weeks to pick between Parker Romo and Riley Patterson in a kicking battle that seems destined to go down to the wire.
Romo and Patterson are neck-and-neck in competition this summer, with the kickers posting nearly identical daily numbers since the start of training camp.
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Romo, the hammer-legged XFL refugee, made two of tries in a field goal period Wednesday, and one of two from long distance in a situational period at the end of practice. Patterson, who kicked for the Lions at the end of the 2021 season, went 2-for-3 in Wednesday’s field goal period, too, and 1-for-2 at the end of practice.
On Monday, both kickers made four of five attempts.
“There’s nothing that would necessarily tip you one way or another right now,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “We’re letting them compete.”
Both Romo and Patterson have been inconsistent at times, but both have attractive skills. Romo has rare leg strength, booming a 57-yard field goal near the end of practice Wednesday that might have been good from 67. Patterson has a less impressive leg but more experience. He made 13 of 14 field goals for the Lions two seasons ago and drilled a winning 36-yarder as time expired in the Jacksonville Jaguars’ playoff win over the Los Angeles Chargers in January.
Patterson said Wednesday he was disappointed to lose the Lions’ kicking job last summer to Austin Seibert, and at one point prayed he’d be with the team in 2023. After Jacksonville signed Brandon McManus this spring, his prayer was answered, as the Lions re-acquired him in a trade for a conditional draft pick.
“I am here, but (God had) a different plan than the way I did,” Patterson said. “Jacksonville, it was such a blessing, I met so many great people and had success there. Went to the playoffs, made a game-winning kick, and it was really awesome. And I loved it. But I am really happy to be back here. A lot of great people and a reallparky good team.”
Romo, who bounced around three colleges and never handled field goals full-time until his senior year at Virginia Tech, spent part of training camp last summer with the New Orleans Saints but was not on the Lions’ radar until he earned all-XFL honors.
Potentially a distant relative of former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo — their ancestors hail from the same town in Mexico, he said — Parker Romo said he’s grateful that his XFL experience led him to Detroit.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s a dream come true to be here, I just got to go out there and do my job,” he said.
On Wednesday, kicking with the first-team field goal unit, Patterson made kicks of 41 and 44 yards and was wide left from the left hash at 48. Romo hit from 41 and 48, but missed wide right from 44.
In the situational period, with the offense simulating an end-of-game situation — the ball on their own side of the 50 and needing a field goal to win — Patterson and Romo both hit from 57 yards and missed from 61. Patterson’s kick fell short, while Romo’s was a few yards right.
“We all know that Riley, there’s a steadiness about him, and I would say this about Riley, one of the things that we’ve noticed that’s really shown up from two years ago when we kind of parted ways is, he has a stronger leg as it pertains to kickoffs,” Campbell said. “Like, his kickoffs are much better. He’s getting more hang time, he’s getting more depth. He’s been pretty steady on field goals, so it’s good. And then Romo, as we know, man, he has a massive leg and his will always be just a little bit of working on that accuracy and control, which we kind of know that. It’s about just competing and developing and getting a little bit better, but we like those two guys, we do.”
More observations from Wednesday’s practice:
St. Brown big in clutch situations
In the first situational period Wednesday, a first-and-10 from the 44-yard line with 6 seconds to play, quarterback Jared Goff completed a short slant to Amon-Ra St. Brown with a perfect throw over the middle to set up Patterson’s 57-yard try after a simulated timeout. Savion Smith broke up a Nate Sudfeld pass to Jameson Williams in the same situation with the twos, but the Lions gave Romo the same field goal chance.
In the second situation, a first-and-10 from the 48 with 13 seconds on the clock, Goff threw incomplete to Jahmyr Gibbs on the first play, then hit St. Brown for a short gain out of a gadget formation. Sudfeld’s lone pass in the same situation sailed through tight end James Mitchell’s hands, but the offense ran up to spike the ball as if the clock was running.
Savion Smith makes the plays
Smith, who took second-team reps at safety with Ifeatu Melinfowu out with a knee injury, had two pass breakups Wednesday, the other coming on a Sudfield pass to Dylan Drummond.
Smith had a strong camp last year while playing cornerback, but struggled in the Lions’ preseason finale and ended up on practice squad. He made an unexpected October start at safety, when he was carted off the field with a neck injury, and seems to have found a home at that position.
Melifonwu has a long injury history. I’m not sure how bad his knee injury is, but if he misses much time, Smith will have a chance to play his way into a backup safety role.
A logjam at safety
Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn cautioned Monday about reading too much into who’s working with what unit on the depth chart, and Glenn is right that it can be dangerous to make assumptions based on who’s playing where. The Lions (and most NFL teams) mix up their rotations in order to see players work with different teammates, prepare them to play multiple positions and simply expedite their young talent’s growth.
But some of the roster juggling that goes on in camp can be foreshadowing, too, and it has been interesting to watch how Glenn has handled what is shaping up to be a mini-logjam at safety.
Tracy Walker and Kerby Joseph opened camp as first-team safeties, with C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Brian Branch and Will Harris taking the bulk of the slot cornerback reps. Gardner-Johnson, Branch and Harris all can play safety, too, and more recently, Gardner-Johnson has played in the back end next to Joseph with Branch getting work in the Lions’ top nickel defense.
If the season started today, I’d guess Gardner-Johnson and Joseph would start in the Lions’ base defense and Walker, who is returning from a torn Achilles, would play safety, with Gardner-Johnson moving to the slot in nickel. But Branch has had an impressive camp and the Lions aren’t going to be able to keep the rookie on the bench long. His ball skills are good enough that I’d bet we see some packages with him, Joseph (4 interceptions last season) and Gardner-Johnson (6 INTs in 2022) early in the year. Walker remains an important part of the Lions defense, but he has never had more than one interception in a season and Glenn is huge on creating takeaways.
A Eagle flying high
Another player who’s steadily climbed the depth chart is Dylan Drummond, an undrafted rookie out of Eastern Michigan. Drummond catches everything thrown his way and has worked regularly with the second-team offense since Tom Kennedy’s injury.
On Wednesday, he caught three passes in a four-play span from Sudfeld in seven-on-seven drills. He has a knack for getting open and has routinely been one of the last players off the field, catching passes off the JUGS machine with Kalif Raymond and Brown or while laying on his back with a teammate throwing him the ball.
The Lions have more questions than answers in their receiving corps right now, with a big gulf after St. Brown and Raymond, and because Williams has an early-season suspension to serve. I’m not sure Drummond can oust any of the vets to earn a roster spot; Josh Reynolds, Marvin Jones and Denzel Mims have combined for 20 seasons, and there’s a comfort level in having pass-catchers the quarterback trusts. But he seems, at a minimum, like a good bet for the practice squad.
Baby, baby
One other depth chart note from Wednesday: With Frank Ragnow out of practice — his wife was due this week with the couple’s first baby – Graham Glasgow took first-team reps at center and Halapoulivaati Vaitai worked first-team at right guard. The second-team offensive line, from left to right, was: Obinna Eze, Kayode Awosika, Ross Pierschbacher, Colby Sorsdal and Matt Nelson.
Quick hits
∎ I thought Adrian Martinez had his best day of practice Wednesday. The undrafted rookie quarterback (out of Kansas State and Nebraska) was shaky with his throws, reads and timing in the spring and the early part of camp, but he has settled down of late. He took off running once Wednesday and was decisive in doing so, and he was as accurate with his passes as he has been all camp.
∎ The Lions didn’t practice in pads Wednesday so I won’t dwell too much on plays, but Glenn was all smiles after undrafted rookie cornerback Steven Gilmore had a tight coverage when he broke up a Martinez pass to Maurice Alexander on the sideline in seven-on-seven drills. One snap later, when Gilmore gave Trey Quinn too much cushion on a bunch release, Glenn came over and put his arm around Gilmore to offer some teaching points on how to better trade off receivers in the bunch.
∎ Trinity Benson left the field on a cart when he suffered an apparent right knee injury on the second snap of seven-on-seven. Benson was running a route across the middle when he fell to the ground, rolling in pain. Aidan Hutchinson dropped into coverage on the play and deflected the pass from Goff.
Goff got Hutchinson back two periods later, when he got Hutchinson to jump offsides on a hard count on fourth-and-2.
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∎ The Lions are hosting a dog adoption day at Thursday’s training camp practice, in conjunction with Pet Supplies Plus. Purina Pro Plan will cover all adoption costs for any dogs adopted through Bottle Babies Rescue, Friends of Detroit Animal Care & Control and Bark Nation at the event.
∎ Lastly, I often get asked for advice on watching practice in Allen Park. The team practices on two fields, with offense going through individual drills on the far field and defense using the side closest to the team’s indoor training facility. Typically, the Lions use one field for team drills, and the field alternates by days.
The first-team offense and defense usually use the day’s “main” field during the pre-practice installation period, so pay attention to the start of practice if you want a good seat for the action. If the rotation holds, the Lions will use the far field for most of their team drills on Thursday.
Last piece of advice: If you’re sticking around for autographs, players have been great about staying late to sign, with Penei Sewell, Josh Reynolds and Alim McNeill among those who spent about 45 minutes signing after practice Wednesday. Players sign for fans on both sides of the bleachers, so your little one should get at least a couple signatures if you stick around till the end.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.