On Saturday, pending the internet outage Friday morning that has instantly impacted airline travel, rookies will report to Detroit Lions' training camp. Next Tuesday, July 23, veterans will follow.
Training camp and preseason games will be about narrowing the current offseason roster (currently at 89 players for the Lions, pending if there's a new addition before the first camp practice) down to 53 to head into the season with.
A big chunk of the Lions active roster heading into the season opener against the Los Angeles Rams, barring significant injuries that can't be foreseen, can essentially be written in stone right now. There will be some good competition for starting jobs though, and in some cases there will be battles for roster spots if/when it comes down to a positional numbers game at the back end of the roster.
On the doorstep of training camp, here's a new projection for the Lions' 53-man roster.
Detroit Lions pre-training camp 53-man roster projection
Quarterbacks: 2 (2/53)
-Jared Goff
-Hendon Hooker
The obvious question here is if the Lions keep two of three quarterbacks on the final 53. The practice squad and the league's emergency quarterback rule opens the door to stashing Sudfeld there.
Running Backs: 4 (6/53)
-Jahmyr Gibbs
-David Montgomery
-Sione Vaki
-Zonovan Knight
The Lions seem likely to keep four running backs on the 53-man roster heading into the season, with Gibbs, Montgomery and Vaki the locks. So it comes down to what's sure to be a good battle for the fourth spot, and the No. 3 running back role if we're getting down to it, between Knight and Craig Reynolds. The youth and upside edge goes to Knight, so he gets the edge here heading into camp.
Wide Receivers: 5 (11/53)
-Amon-Ra St. Brown
-Jameson Williams
-Kalif Raymond
-Donovan Peoples-Jones
-Antoine Green
It's tempting to try to get to six here, but the way this group currently looks and narrowing down other position groups makes it hard to do so.
Tight Ends: 4 (15/53)
-Sam LaPorta
-Brock Wright
-Shane Zylstra
-James Mitchell
LaPorta and Wright are obvious here, and the Lions like Zylstra. Mitchell is firmly on the roster bubble, but here he does enough to get one last shot on the roster going into the 2024 season.
Offensive Line: 9 (24/53)
-OT Penei Sewell
-OT Taylor Decker
-OG Graham Glasgow
-OG Kevin Zeitler
-C Frank Ragnow
-OG/OT Colby Sorsdal
-OT/OG Giovanni Manu
-OT Dan Skipper
-OG Christian Mahogany
Behind the five starters here, depth is a concern-if only from an experience standpoint. The Lions gave up too much to (arguably) overdraft Manu to end up exposing him to other teams by cutting him and trying to get him back on the practice squad. Kingsley Eguakun is a UDFA dark horse/possible successor to Ragnow who could come out of nowhere to secure a roster spot, but he falls just short here.
Defensive Line/EDGE: 10 (34/53)
-DE Aidan Hutchinson
-DT Alim McNeill
-DT DJ Reader
-DE Marcus Davenport
-DE Josh Paschal
-DT Brodric Martin
-DT Mekhi Wingo
-EDGE James Houston
-EDGE Mathieu Betts
-DT Levi Onwuzurike
The big-name odd-man out here is John Cominsky, who needs a strong training camp and could end up being a tradeable asset. Onwuzurike got good reviews for his work during OTAs, and he continues that healthy revival right through camp/the preseason to stick around. Betts, the CFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2023, proves worthy of the flier the Lions took on him and wins a roster spot.
Linebackers: 5 (39/53)
-Alex Anzalone
-Jack Campbell
-Derrick Barnes
-Malcolm Rodriguez
-Jalen Reeves-Maybin
The Lions are deep here, and keeping six off-the-ball linebackers is possible. But a numbers game connected to other positions leaves us with five right now, with a quintet that can be locked into spots as much as any five players on the roster.
Defensive Backs: 11 (50/53)
-CB Carlton Davis
-CB Terrion Arnold
-S Kerby Joseph
-CB/S Brian Branch
-CB Ennis Rakestraw
-S Ifeatu Melifonwu
-CB Amik Robertson
-CB Emmanuel Moseley
-S C.J. Moore
-S Brandon Joseph
-CB Khalil Dorsey
The idea of Brian Branch playing a lot of snaps at safety this year, and perhaps (likely?) seizing one of the starting spots, alters the conversation here a little bit. Dorsey went a long way to securing a roster spot with a strong minicamp, and he's also prominent in the kick returner conversation as the new NFL kickoff rule alters the significance of that play. Brandon Joseph looked good in offseason work, and as long as he carries that forward he'll be hard to push off the 53-man roster.
Specialists: 3 (53/53)
-PK Michael Badgley
-P Jack Fox
-LS Scott Daly
Jake Bates is the obvious fan favorite to be the Lions' kicker, even if the shine has fallen off him compared to early in the UFL season. It feels like he'll have to clearly beat out Badgley for the job though, with few if any missteps along the way in a competition that may not have the competitors on equal footing. The Lions just don't appear serious about actually replacing Badgley, and unless he's awful between the start of camp and roster cutdown day it's hard to see him losing his job.
Now, a bonus projection for the practice squad. For this year, as announced last year, NFL practice squads will expand to 17 players if one player is a qualifying international player. For the Lions we didn't project a qualifying international player, so a 16-man practice squad it is.
Practice Squad (16 players)
-PK Jake Bates
-QB Nate Sudfeld
-C Kingsley Eguakun
-DB Morice Norris
-S Loren Strickland
-LB Mitchell Agude
-WR Isaiah Williams
-OL Connor Galvin
-LB Ben Niemann
-LS Hogan Hatten
-WR Maurice Alexander
-WR Daurice Fountain
-WR Tom Kennedy
-TE Parker Hesse
-CB Steven Gilmore
-RB Jake Funk
If Bates does not beat out Badgley, he'd be a prime candidate to be poached by another team very quickly. Williams, a UDFA out of Illinois who the Lions gave significant guaranteed money to, is also someone other teams will have interest in if he's cut. The aforementioned Eguakun sticks here.
