Lions Predicted to Split With Promising $5.5 Million Player

The Detroit Lions have plenty of promising players on their roster and guys who have already proved their worth. Players such as Jared Goff, Aidan Hutchinson and Amon-Ra St. Brown have been with the franchise for a while now and have certainly shown that they can deliver.

But, when it comes to some of the lesser-known names on the Lions’ roster, a few might not make it to September. It’s the nature of the sport. Now, the Lions are being predicted to drop a once-promising defender before training camp starts. This player hasn’t turned out quite how the team had expected.

Detroit Lions May Part With Former Third-Round Pick

This summer may mark the last time that one certain Lions player hangs with the team.

In a Monday, June 23, feature, Chris Schad of Detroit Jock City predicts that one player who might get the boot before training camp is Brodric Martin, who was a third-round pick by the Lions in 2023.

Martin has only appeared in five games in the past two seasons. Schad says that “the third-year player has also made minimal impact when he’s been on the field, logging four total tackles and has yet to log a sack after coming out of Western Kentucky.”

Schad adds that Levi Onwuzurike, Roy Lopez and Tyleik Williams are “considered locks for the roster entering training camp and 2024 sixth-round pick Mekhi Wingo is the front runner for the fourth spot.” Also, it’s not likely that “McNeil will be ready for the start of the season but even if he weren’t, the Lions may want to allocate more roster spots toward one of their deeper positions, including the 10-player battle royal they have at linebacker,” Schad adds.

So, Schad really believes that it will take a lot for Martin to stay with the team. He even says the player will need to “have the training camp of his life just to make the active roster” and that it’s “more of a possibility that he won’t be on the team when camp begins.”

Time will tell, but it’s disheartening to see this once-promising draft pick on thin ice. If he’s let go, it will be interesting to see if he pops up somewhere else.

Detroit Has One of the Best Rookies in the NFL

Looking at this season’s rookies, in a story published Thursday, June 29, by Rob Rang of Fox Sports, he looks at the best rookies in the 2025 NFL class. For the Lions, he names guard Tate Ratledge as the top rookie on Detroit’s roster.

“The Lions boast one of the NFL’s better offensive lines, but going back to the last century, their play at tackle and center has been better than at guard,” Rang states in the piece. “Glover played 12 of his 15 NFL seasons at center and each of his three Pro Bowl nods came at the pivot, but he started 26 games over the 1986–88 seasons at guard.”

Rang adds that the player is “a potentially dominant blocker who, with greater durability, also has the look of a long-time pillar up front.”