The Detroit Lions 53-man roster fully made up and now we're ready to get into the 2024 regular season. Before we do that, it feels right to highlight some of the guys that made this roster despite having some long shot odds to do so. Here's four guys that defied those long shots and earned it.
Loren Strickland
I've been a fan of this kid since the Lions signed him after the 2024 NFL Draft and I watched his film. The first thing you notice is that the guy just crashes into players at full speed. If David were going up against Goliath and he didn't have his sling shot, he'd probably take the Strickland route and just throw his entire body into Goliath until he fell down.
Stirckland is going to be a great special teams guy and he's a forced fumble waiting to happen.
Isaiah Williams
He did it. His odds may have been harder to overcome than Strickland's since the Lions have arguably the best slot receiver in the league and then have Kalif Raymond backing him up. Still, Williams was so good at camp and in the preseason that it was just hard to say no to him.
He should come in on special teams and we'll see what else the Lions have planned for him. They're likely not done with receivers yet.
Ben Niemann
My first thought when the signing of Niemann happened was that I didn't understand why the Lions were signing another linebacker since that's the spot that seemed so figured out. He fought through that and made the team want to carry another guy.
Special teams has been his best spot in the NFL, so look for the majority of his work to be done in that area.
Hogan Hatten
We don't about long snappers a lot, but Hatten came in as an undrafted rookie and stole the spot away from Scott Daly who had held it down since Don Muhlbach left. That's a cool story. Hatten can also be a linebacker. That's also cool.
