Sunday Notes: Lions Sign Cannon, Release Gardner

The Lions signed linebacker Anthony Cannon yesterday and released Gilbert Gardner, a linebacker that was on the injury report. Cannon didn't make the team after Gardner essentially beat him out for the last linebacker spot, but the one-time Lion is back to play special teams. He had the fifth-most special teams tackles last season, and with Kalvin Pearson starting in place of the injured Dwight Smith, there was a need for added depth on special teams. (Pearson is a great special teams player.)
Damion Cook will start at left guard on Sunday. He replaced Edwin Mulitalo last week and gets to keep the starting job after a good performance.
As mentioned earlier this week, Gosder Cherilus will likely start at right tackle.
Safety Gerald Alexander, who is already on the IR, will have surgery sometime next week to fix a cracked vertebra and a disc injury.
From the sounds of it, the Lions are going to try to get Calvin Johnson the ball more often.
Instead of the Lions-Redskins game, FOX 2 (out of Detroit) will broadcast the movie Best Laid Plans. As Dave Birkett points out, someone working for FOX 2 has a sense of humor given the name of the movie. The Lions definitely do not have the best laid plans, which is sort of why their game got blacked out.
Roy Williams' contract with the Cowboys actually includes $19.5 million of guaranteed money, which differs from a previous report.