Quarterback Jake Fromm was supposed to be insurance for a period of less than seven days.
Recall, Hendon Hooker had suffered a brain injury against the Giants and was forced to miss practice early in the week leading up to the Kansas City Chiefs game. As a result, the Lions brought Fromm in to give the team depth behind Nate Sudfeld.
However, Hooker recovered enough to play against the Chiefs and was able to play. As a result, Fromm was unable to get game action.
While many perceived that Fromm's tenure in Motown would be quite short, the 26-year-old had a different plan.
With limited practice reps, the former Georgia Bulldogs signal-caller moved the offense effectively in the preseason finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He finished 6-of-8 passing in two series of aciton, helping the Lions salt away a 24-17 victory.
“When a quarterback can go out there and operate and be accurate for guys that he has not been working with, that’s impressive," general manager Brad Holmes said. "It wasn’t just that, obviously there’s a lot more other things that he showed in a short amount of time that was not seen on film, but he was impressive in a short time," said Holmes. "That’s what did it for him. We’ll just see how it goes. The more that we’re around him and the more comfortable that he’ll get."
Fromm showcased to the front office and coaching staff that he was competing hard to stay on the team.
As a result, the decision was made to part ways with Sudfeld, who did not showcase enough to warrant keeping his position on the 53-man roster.
"We really brought Jake in because we didn't know if we were gonna have another quarterback behind Nate and we knew Goff wasn't gonna play. That's why we brought him in," Holmes explained. "We worked him out and he did a good job in the workout and all that. He really kind of came in as just insurance."
Holmes continued, "I give the kid credit, his mindset wasn't, 'I'm just coming in as insurance.' His mindset was, 'I'm coming in to compete and do something with this opportunity.' But yeah, it was something that, he did some things even before that game during practice, but in the game when he got his opportunity he just took full ad
