After the Detroit Lions lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars in preseason action Saturday, Lions coach Dan Campbell said he “found out about a few guys” in the game, and it was clear by his tone he did not mean in a good way.
The Lions struggled to move the ball offensively Saturday for a myriad of reasons. Neither Teddy Bridgewater nor Nate Sudfeld had a good day at quarterback, the interior of the offensive line had issues in protection and no one from the receiving corps came through with a clutch catch.
Roster-cut day is a week from Tuesday, and the Lions still have more than a half-dozen spots hanging in the balance.
Here’s my second 53-man roster prediction of the summer, with a few small changes based on the events of the last week.
Quarterback (3)
On the roster: Jared Goff, Teddy Bridgewater, Nate Sudfeld, Hendon Hooker, Adrian Martinez.
I’ve been on the two-quarterback bandwagon with the Lions for a while now, but the Jaguars radio crew — with Lions quarterbacks coach Mark Brunell’s good friend Tony Boselli — indicated on their broadcast Saturday the Lions might keep three QBs on their roster. That could cost the Lions a valuable depth piece elsewhere, but they are the team that proposed the NFL’s new emergency third quarterback rule this spring.
In: Goff, Bridgewater, Sudfeld.
Non-football injury: Hooker.
Running backs (4)
On the roster: David Montgomery, Jahmyr Gibbs, Jermar Jefferson, Craig Reynolds, Benny Snell, Devine Ozigbo, Jason Cabinda.
The No. 3 running back job remains up for grabs, and it’s possible the Lions hit the waiver wire next week to fortify the room. Reynolds and Jefferson got the bulk of the work Saturday after sitting out last week’s game against the Giants with injuries, and combined for 29 yards rushing on 14 carries. Snell was a core special teams player in his four seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Unless someone has a big day in Friday’s preseason finale against the Carolina Panthers, that could be the deciding factor.
In: Montgomery, Gibbs, Snell, Cabinda (FB).
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Wide receivers (5)
On the roster: Amon-Ra St. Brown, Kalif Raymond, Josh Reynolds, Marvin Jones, Jameson Williams, Antoine Green, Maurice Alexander, Trinity Benson, Chase Cota, Dylan Drummond, Avery Davis, Jason Moore.
I had six receivers on my first roster prediction last week, but the reality is none of the Lions backups has done enough for another NFL team to claim them off waivers. Drummond has had the most consistent training camp, Cota has played the best in preseason games, Green is a 2023 seventh-round pick and Alexander has return ability. I’m sticking with Drummond as the No. 5 for now in a coin flip with Cota because of how the Lions have used him as a blocker. But I fully expect the Lions to pursue upgrades for the unit between now and the NFL’s trade deadline.
In: St. Brown, Raymond, Reynolds, Jones, Drummond.
Suspended: Williams.
Tight ends (3)
On the roster: Sam LaPorta, Brock Wright, James Mitchell, Daniel Helm, Darrell Daniels.
There’s not much to debate. The Lions held LaPorta out of Saturday’s game as their No. 1 tight end, and Wright and Mitchell are the top backups. Daniels played 10 special teams snaps against the Jaguars and could end up on the practice squad.
In: LaPorta, Wright, Mitchell.
IR: Shane Zylstra.
Offensive line (9)
On the roster: Taylor Decker, Jonah Jackson, Frank Ragnow, Halapoulivaati Vaitai, Penei Sewell, Graham Glasgow, Matt Nelson, Germain Ifedi, Brad Cecil, Alex Mollette, Kayode Awosika, Colby Sorsdal, Connor Galvin, Ryan Swoboda, Obinna Eze, Darrin Paulo, Max Pircher, Bobby Hart.
Seven spots are accounted for, with four returning starters up front, Glasgow and Vaitai battling for the starting right guard job and Sorsdal a rookie fifth-round pick. The Lions plan to either Nelson or Ifedi as their swing tackle, and have spent the past two weeks mixing up the playing group to give both a look at left and right tackle. I give Nelson the slight edge based on familiarity, and while it’s possible both make the roster, I’m slotting Awosika into the last backup spot for now based on his youth and readiness.
In: Decker, Jackson, Ragnow, Vaitai, Sewell, Glasgow, Sorsdal, Nelson, Awosika.
Defensive line (10)
On the roster: EDGE — Aidan Hutchinson, John Cominsky, Josh Paschal, Charles Harris, James Houston, Romeo Okwara, Julian Okwara. IDL — Alim McNeill, Isaiah Buggs, Levi Onwuzurike, Brodric Martin, Benito Jones, Christian Covington, Chris Smith, Cory Durden.
The Lions have more depth across the board defensively than they’ve had in years and that’s particularly true with the edge rush/defensive line group. I had 11 linemen making my roster last week and think there are even more worthy candidates, but putting a roster together is a numbers game in many ways; that may be too many bigs to keep. Martin is a third-round pick and that makes Jones the fifth defensive tackle, and as much as I think he’s deserving of a spot, I’m not sure there’s room for five interior linemen given how much Cominsky will play inside in sub packages. Julian Okwara could be the odd edge rusher out, though maybe general manager Brad Holmes has a trade up his sleeve.
In: Hutchinson, Cominsky, Paschal, Harris, Houston, R. Okwara, McNeill, Buggs, Martin, Onwuzurike, Jones.
Linebackers (6)
On the roster: Alex Anzalone, Derrick Barnes, Malcolm Rodriguez, Jack Campbell, Anthony Pittman, Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Trevor Nowaske.
Dan Campbell was highly complimentary of this room Saturday, saying there’s “a lot of depth and a lot of versatility.” Barnes, Campbell and Rodriguez are competing for the starting job next to Anzalone. Pittman and Reeves-Maybin are core special teams players and Nowaske is on course to eventually fill Pittman’s role. There’s a good chance the first six make the roster and Nowaske ends up on practice squad.
In: Anzalone, Barnes, Rodriguez, Campbell, Pittman, Reeves-Maybin.
Defensive backs (10)
On the roster: CB — Cam Sutton, Emmanuel Moseley, Jerry Jacobs, Will Harris, Chase Lucas, Starling Thomas V, Steven Gilmore, Khalil Dorsey, Colby Richardson. S — Tracy Walker, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Kerby Joseph, Brian Branch, Saivion Smith, Ifeatu Melifonwu, Brady Breeze, Brandon Joseph, Scott Nelson.
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The Lions kept 11 defensive backs on their initial 53-man roster last year, and 10 in 2021. I went light with nine in the secondary in my last prediction, reasoning that Moseley will be back from his knee injury soon. But given the injury rate of defensive backs and the value they have on special teams, I think 10 is probably the sweet spot for the Lions. Lucas, a 2022 seventh-round pick, gets the last spot on this prediction ahead of Melifonwu based on both Lucas’ special teams ability and Melifonwu’s inability to stay healthy. Melifonwu missed 17 games the past two seasons because of an assortment of injuries and is hurt for the second time this summer now. That could force the Lions to keep him to avoid an injury settlement if he’s waived or to place him on IR after cuts. But Lucas is more deserving of a job.
In: Sutton, Jacobs, Harris, Thomas, Gilmore, Gardner-Johnson, Joseph, Branch, Walker, Lucas.
PUP: Moseley.
Specialists (3)
On the roster: P — Jack Fox; K — Riley Patterson, Parker Romo; LS — Scott Daly.
The Lions did not have many opportunities to kick Saturday with one extra point and two kickoffs, all in the second half, so maybe this means nothing. But Patterson handled all the kicking duties while Romo did not appear in the game. Neither kicker has separated himself, so my guess is the Lions go with Patterson, the more experienced leg.
In: Fox, Patterson, Daly.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.