Allen Park — This week, Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes and coach Dan Campbell will meet with more than 30 players and tell them they didn’t make the team. It’s the toughest part of the job and there’s no good way to prepare for those difficult conversations.
“There’s nothing worse than watching guys give everything they’ve got, bust their rear, the blood, the sweat, all of it, the angst, the good, the bad, and that’s hard,” Campbell said. “It’s hard to look them in the eye and tell them, ‘Hey, this is as far as it goes, for now.'”
But, there is a silver lining. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL permanently increased the size of practice squads to 16, which now includes six spots for veterans with unlimited experience. A few years back, there was nowhere for veteran players with more than two years of experience to go if they didn’t make a roster out of training camp.
Plus, one of the unique things about the Holmes/Campbell regime is how little the brass churns the bottom of the roster. There’s a strong sense of loyalty to the players they bring in and develop over the course of the offseason. That means most, if not all, of those 16 spots will be filled by guys the Lions had in training camp.
And, as Campbell notes, many of the team’s practice-squad players the past two years have wound up getting promoted and contributing in games at some point during the season.
“There’ll be a number of guys too that, ‘Yeah, you didn’t make it on this maybe the 53, but we want you back here,'” Campbell said. “And if it doesn’t work out somewhere else, or someone’s not willing to claim you, there’s a reason we want you back, because we feel like you can help us. Our practice-squad players play. I mean they play during the year, whether it’s injury or special teams. I mean there’s a good chance you’re going to end up playing at some point this year if you’re with us.”
“…They’re very much a part of our team and they need to think that way,” Campbell said. “I want them to think that way. I understand it’s a 53-man roster, but it’s really not. It’s a 60-man team, it’s a 69-man team is what it is, and that’s kind of how we view it. These guys are all on the same team. We all help each other out and every one of those guys, there’s a good chance they’re going to play for us.
That’s where a guy like defensive tackle Cory Durden could fit. Undrafted out of North Carolina State, he walked into a crowded depth chart that always made winning a roster spot an uphill battle. But after making steady improvements through the offseason, and impressing while playing out of position as an edge rusher in the late stages of the preseason finale against Carolina, he’s the type of guy who should get to keep his dream afloat as a member of Detroit’s practice squad.
“He did a couple of (impressive) things,” Campbell said. “You saw the long arm over there on the edge. He just picked (the offensive tackle) up and put him right into the quarterback. It was good to see. …We like Durden. There’s a reason he’s here. That’s pretty intriguing, right? It shows a little bit of flexibility out of him and maybe some versatility, so it was good.”
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