Way-too-early Detroit Lions' 53-man roster prediction: Position battles to watch
The Detroit Lions have as good of a top-to-bottom roster as they’ve had since Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell took over two years ago. That makes projecting their 53-man roster even more difficult than usual.
It’s late June, training camp doesn’t open for another few weeks and roster spots won’t be decided until late August, but this is an exercise I go through every summer after organized team activities and mandatory minicamp just to take stock of where things stand with the strengths and weaknesses of the Lions’ roster.
Here's my way-too-early (and sure-to-change) initial 53-man roster prediction.
Quarterback (2)
On the roster: Jared Goff, Nate Sudfeld, Hendon Hooker, Adrian Martinez
If Hooker was healthy, the Lions would be a good bet to keep three quarterbacks, but the third-round pick is expected to open training camp on the non-football injury list and likely won’t be ready until September. With Hooker probably in line for a midseason return, the Lions can go light at QB, keep Martinez on the practice squad and bolster their depth elsewhere.
In: Goff, Sudfeld.
NFI: Hooker.
Running backs (4)
On the roster: David Montgomery, Jahmyr Gibbs, Jermar Jefferson, Craig Reynolds, Mohamed Ibrahim, Greg Bell, Jason Cabinda.
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Montgomery and Gibbs should see the bulk of the work at running back this fall, but running backs rarely make it through 17 games healthy and the Lions have a battle brewing for the No. 3 spot. I give Reynolds the edge for now based on past production, but Jefferson could win the job with a strong camp. Ibrahim is an undrafted free agent to watch and the Lions will need special teams production from whoever wins the job.
In: Montgomery, Gibbs, Reynolds, Cabinda (FB).
Wide receivers (5)
On the roster: Amon-Ra St. Brown, Kalif Raymond, Josh Reynolds, Marvin Jones, Jameson Williams, Antoine Green, Tom Kennedy, Maurice Alexander, Trinity Benson, Chase Cota, Dylan Drummond.
The first four players on this list seem locked into roster spots, and Williams will enter the playing group once his suspension ends in late October. The Lions kept five receivers on their initial 53-man roster last season (cutting both Kennedy and Benson) and seven on their initial 53-man roster in 2021. The final one or two roster spots will be decided in camp, but receivers coach Antwaan Randle El had good things to say about Green last week, so the seventh-round draft picks gets the nod for the final spot for now.
In: St. Brown, Raymond, Reynolds, Jones, Green.
Suspended: Williams.
Tight ends (3)
On the roster: Sam LaPorta, Brock Wright, James Mitchell, Shane Zylstra, Derrick Deese Jr.
The Lions have a tight end-friendly offensive staff with Campbell (an ex-NFL tight end) running the show and Ben Johnson (an ex-tight ends coach) calling plays. I could see them keeping Zylstra as a fourth tight end given Mitchell’s injury history and the special teams value of the position, but he’ll have to win a job in camp.
In: LaPorta, Wright, Mitchell.
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Offensive line (9)
On the roster: Taylor Decker, Jonah Jackson, Frank Ragnow, Halapoulivaati Vaitai, Penei Sewell, Graham Glasgow, Matt Nelson, Brad Cecil, Ross Pierschbacher, Kayode Awosika, Logan Stenberg, Colby Sorsdal, Connor Galvin, Ryan Swoboda, Obinna Eze, Germain Ifedi, Darrin Paulo, Max Pircher.
The Lions have 18 — 18! — offensive linemen currently on their roster, which speaks to the injury concerns they have up front. Of all the positions on offense, this is the one they seem most likely to go heavy on to start the season, though it’s impossible to tell anything about the contenders for back-end roster jobs now. Once pads come on, we’ll have a better idea of how young players such as Eze and Swoboda compare to vets such as Ifedi and Nelson. Glasgow is locked into the backup interior line job, and I’m predicting Eze makes a jump this summer with his physical tools.
In: Decker, Jackson, Ragnow, Vaitai, Sewell, Glasgow, Nelson, Sorsdal, Eze.
Defensive line (10)
On the roster: Edge — Aidan Hutchinson, John Cominsky, Josh Paschal, Charles Harris, James Houston, Romeo Okwara, Julian Okwara, Zach Morton; Interior DL — Alim McNeill, Isaiah Buggs, Levi Onwuzurike, Brodric Martin, Benito Jones, Christian Covington, Chris Smith, Cory Durden.
Like with the offensive line, it’s tough to tell too much about the defensive front seven in the summer, given the physical nature of the positions. The Lions have plenty of contenders for backup edge rushing jobs, and a couple of those players (Cominsky and Paschal) will see plenty of time inside in sub packages. On the interior line, Onwuzurike is a complete wild card given his back problems. Durden and Smith have both impressed so far as undrafted free agents.
In: Hutchinson, Cominsky, Paschal, Harris, Houston, R. Okwara, McNeill, Buggs, Martin, Jones.
PUP: Onwuzurike.
Linebackers (6)
On the roster: Alex Anzalone, Derrick Barnes, Malcolm Rodriguez, Jack Campbell, Anthony Pittman, Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Trevor Nowaske.
I could be overvaluing special teams a little here, but I think most of the Lions’ off-ball linebackers have a path to a roster spot. The Lions will start some combination of Anzalone, Barnes, Campbell and Rodriguez at the off-ball linebacker spots, and the other two, plus Pittman and Reeves-Maybin, could be core special teamers. The Lions were able to hide Pittman on the practice squad early last season and could try and do the same again if they need to create space elsewhere.
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In: Anzalone, Barnes, Rodriguez, Campbell, Pittman, Reeves-Maybin.
Defensive backs (11)
On the roster: CB — Cam Sutton, Emmanuel Moseley, Jerry Jacobs, Will Harris, Chase Lucas, Starling Thomas V, Steven Gilmore, Khalil Dorsey, Jarren Williams; S — Tracy Walker, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Kerby Joseph, Brian Branch, Saivion Smith, Ifeatu Melifonwu, Brady Breeze, Brandon Joseph.
Similar to the situation at linebacker, the Lions have a very defined group competing for starting jobs and several backups who project to play key roles on special teams. Branch and Gardner-Johnson are slot cornerbacks who will play safety in base defense, and Melifonwu and Smith have similar position flexibility (though their primary contributions will come in the kicking game if they make the roster). I put Thomas on my roster as an UDFA based on the feedback coming from Allen Park, and I feel more confident about his chances of sticking than some others on this list.
In: Sutton, Moseley, Jacobs, Harris, Thomas, Walker, Gardner-Johnson, Joseph, Branch, Melifonwu, Smith.
Specialists (3)
On the roster: Jack Fox, Michael Badgley, Riley Patterson, Parker Romo, Scott Daly, Jake McQuaide.
The Lions have training camp competitions brewing at kicker and long snapper. I didn’t see enough of Daly and McQuaide to have a read on who wins the job, but I put McQuaide on this list based on the fact the Lions signed the veteran in free agency. At kicker, Badgley doesn’t have the strongest leg, but he kicked well last season and will have to be beat out by Patterson or Romo to lose the job.
In: Fox, Badgley, McQuaide.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Way-too-early Detroit Lions' roster prediction: Who's on the bubble?
