Allen Park — It’s the time of the NFL season no one likes. Over the next few days, culminating with the league’s 4 p.m. deadline on Tuesday, teams are required to trim their roster from the 90 players permitted in the offseason to 53 ahead of the regular season.
That means nearly 1,200 players will be let go prior to the deadline. The silver lining is more than 40% of that group will land on practice squads around the league the next day.
After his team’s preseason finale Friday night, Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell said he intended to meet with general manager Brad Holmes on Saturday to start making roster decisions, noting the releases would likely be staggered between then and Tuesday afternoon.
“We’ll start really banging away on it, figuring out exactly what we want to do,” Campbell said. “I don’t see this being one big cut. I think we’ll need to disperse them a little bit. I think tomorrow we’ll have a really good feel where we’re at, at least 99% of the roster.”
In this space, we’ll keep track of the latest release reports as the Lions work their way to the team’s initial 53-man roster.
Saturday
4:45 p.m. — According to the NFL Network, defensive tackle Christian Covington has been informed he’s being released by the Lions. Despite having more than 100 games of NFL experience, including 32 starts, he was never able to climb out from the bottom of Detroit’s depth chart. He appeared in all three preseason games, logging 92 snaps, five tackles and a half-sack, recorded Friday against the Panthers.
7:30 p.m. — Add tight end Daniel Helm to the cut list, per longtime NFL Insider Aaron Wilson. Fresh off a stint in the USFL, Helm joined the Lions in early August to help replace Shane Zylstra, following a season-ending injury. Helm played 50 snaps in the preseason, but didn’t record a reception, dropping his only target.
Sunday
4 p.m. — The Lions announced 13 cuts, including the few that leaked the previous day.
The team is releasing veterans Christian Covington, Bobby Hart, Germain Ifedi, Jason Moore and Devine Ozigbo, in addition to waiving Trinity Benson, Avery Davis, Obinna Eze, Daniel Helm, Alex Mollette, Scott Nelson, Darrin Paulo and Colby Richardson.
There were no real surprises from that group. Hart, Ifedi and Paulo had been in the mix for backup jobs along the offensive line, but had clearly slipped behind other contenders in the final week of training camp and the last preseason contest.
The same could be said for Benson, the wide receiver the Lions traded for ahead of the 2021 season. He never found solid footing during the past two years in Detroit, while rookies Dylan Drummond, Chase Cota and Antoine Green all proved to be more reliable options through the duration of the offseason program.
Monday
2 p.m. — The Lions have started their next wave of cuts, informing wide receiver Dylan Drummond, an offseason standout, he’ll be waived. Undrafted out of Eastern Michigan, he had made the offseason roster after an impressive tryout during rookie minicamp.
Drummond continued to take advantage of each opportunity that was presented to him and finished the preseason on a strong note, catching five passes for 46 yards. If he’s not claimed, which could be considered likely given the lack of post-draft interest and limited preseason tape, he’s an obvious fit for Detroit’s practice squad.
The decision to waive Drummond could point to the Lions keeping just five receivers, which would give the team added flexibility on defense, where they face some particularly tough decisions at defensive back. ‘
3:15 p.m. — Detroit is waiving quarterback Adrian Martinez, as anticipated. Following Nate Sudfeld’s reported season-ending knee injury, that will leave the Lions with just two QBs; Jared Goff and Teddy Bridgewater.
Martinez, who was the third-string quarterback much of the offseason, had seen his practice workload trimmed to next to nothing following the addition of Bridgewater. Forced into action after Sudfeld’s injury in the preseason finale, Martinez struggled to move the offense, throwing for just 39 yards while playing most of the second half.
3:45 p.m. — NFL Insider Jordan Schultz reports the Lions are waiving undrafted rookie offensive lineman Connor Galvin, who was Detroit’s highest-graded blocker during the preseason, according to analytics site Pro Football Focus. They faulted Galvin with allowing just two QB pressures (no sacks) on 41-pass-blocking snaps.
Additionally, the Detroit Free Press is reporting Kayode Awosika and Ryan Swoboda are being let go. While all three of those players could land on the practice squad, it’s pointing to the possibility the team enters Week 1 with just eight offensive linemen on the active roster.
The only reason that can work is because of the versatility of veterans Graham Glasgow and Halapoulivaati Vaitai, as well as rookie Colby Sorsdal, who has primarily worked at guard this offseason, but played offensive tackle in college.
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