The Detroit Lions aim to kick off the young 2024 NFL season with back-to-back victories as they host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon at Ford Field. Ahead of the matchup, the team has announced two roster moves on the offensive side of the ball.
Earlier this afternoon, the Lions announced on their X (formerly known as Twitter) account that wide receivers Tom Kennedy and Tim Patrick have both been elevated from the team practice squad to the Active/Inactive list; this is Kennedy’s second elevation this season, while tomorrow will be Patrick’s debut with the Lions after being signed from the Broncos practice squad.
The moves follow the Lions’ announcement that rookie Isaiah Williams will be unavailable due to an abdominal injury. Before the elevation of Kennedy and Patrick, only three wide receivers remained on the active roster: Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and Kalif Raymond.
Earlier in the week, Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson explained via Sports Illustrated why Kennedy is valuable to the team’s offense, affectionately describing him as a ‘bit of a blankie’.
“Being here, he is a little bit of a blankie for us because we know, if something were to happen, he could be X, F (or) Z (positions),” Johnson said. “He can play every spot at the receiver spot. We feel really good about what he can bring to the table and I think that gave him the nod last week.”
Meanwhile, Johnson and the Lions will be looking to improve their performance on third down, having converted just five of 12 attempts during their Week One victory against the Los Angeles Rams.
“I think we were all disappointed by it,” Johnson explained. “We’ve been together long enough that, yeah, I know, we all know it’s game one. We knew it wasn’t going to be our best performance of the year, but there were still a number of things that popped up that just weren’t us characteristic of us and how we play, more so than any schematics or anything like that. It was really more how we play ball. And so, we’ll get those things corrected and hopefully have some better results going forward.”
Tom Kennedy has been with the Lions since 2019
Kennedy, originally signed by the Lions as an undrafted free agent in 2019, has recorded 195 receiving yards and 89 return yards on 14 receptions in his NFL career.
Since this marks his second elevation from the practice squad this season, a contract signing will be required for him to remain on the 53-man roster if he is elevated a third time, which is the mandated limit to the number of times that can happen.
