The Detroit Lions announced a series of roster moves prior to the start of Tuesday's practice.
Undrafted free agent Luke Deal was waived-injured, and the team signed running back Jacob Saylors in a corresponding move.
Saylors has spent the last two seasons playing for the UFL's St. Louis Battlehawks and has familiarity with Lions offensive assistant Bruce Gradkowski, who was the Battlehawks' offensive coordinator in the spring of 2024.
In the 2025 spring, Saylors rushed for 499 yards and five touchdowns while also contributing 22 receptions for 245 yards out of the backfield. The Tennessee native has totaled 1,355 all-purpose yards in two seasons with the Battlehawks.
He led the league in rushing in 2024, his season playing for Gradkowski, with 461 yards and was an All-UFL selection.
Saylors played collegiately at FCS school East Tennessee State, where he had back-to-back seasons with over 1,000 rushing yards. In his final season, he totaled 1,317 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns.
He went undrafted in the 2023 NFL draft, and has stints with the Cincinnati Bengals, Atlanta Falcons, New York Giants and Cleveland Browns.
Deal was an undrafted free agent out of Auburn in the 2025 draft, and signed with the Lions following a successful rookie minicamp tryout. He was viewed as a block-first tight end, as he had 17 receptions for 116 yards and two touchdowns across parts of six collegiate seasons.
The addition of Saylors marks the second-straight day that the Lions have added a member of last year's Battlehawks team, as they signed cornerback Nick Whiteside Monday to replace waived-injured cornerback Stantley Thomas-Oliver.
Lions coach Dan Campbell said he would be open to the NFL adopting the UFL as a farm system of sorts, and Detroit has signed plenty of players from spring leagues in past years. Notable players who have played in leagues such as the UFL that the Lions have signed include kicker Jake Bates and wide receiver Maurice Alexander.
“I mean there’s - we’ve gotten a couple of players out of there now and I know other teams have. Because you get to see them, man they’re playing in the spring, so they’re in shape, they’re just coming off of running around, being football ready and so that’s enticing to us too," Campbell said. "It’s like, man, if you need a guy, at least you know you’ve got evidence right there versus somebody that’s been home for three months. Yeah, they can say they’re working out, but you don’t know. It’s not football working out, like these guys are. So it’s still a little bit of that way, you do feel like you see some of these guys develop and maybe got a chance to pluck them and bring them in.”
