Evaluating The Lions' Roster Cuts

if you asked me whether I’d have a 29 year old return specialist or a guy in Dre Bly, a man who’s proven he can get it done in the NFL and who seems like the perfect tutor for all of these young CB’s on the roster, I’m going with Bly. I’ll take my chances with D-Will or the ’Phons being my return man. Just seems like Bly would have had more value to the team, and not just as a proven vet at possibly our weakest position.

I was sad but not surprised. I thought he had a chance at nickel or dime back and special teams, but in the end he is just too slow to play DB. There are linebackers and at least one D-lineman on this team faster than him right now. He’s got smarts, he can tackle, but he is a liability that other QB’s would isolate and attack. Dre has got to face the reality that it may be time to hang it up.

Ironically, Bly may have lost his roster spot on the interception that he returned. I think the Lions knew that any other CB on the team would have taken that one to the house. Bly got caught from behind after having a ten yard lead on the guy that got him.

DeDe Dorsey I saw coming, especially once I went back and watched the tape of him slinging that ball low and outside as he was running. He was carrying it around like it was a bowling ball or something. Had he better ball security he would never have been on the Lions, the Bengals never would have cut him last year and he probably would have caught on somewhere even sooner than that.

Tim Toone did not surprise me at all. As I said in an earlier post he has just enough talent to keep you wanting more. What can be said to defend a guy that Derrick Williams outperformed? I think that about sums it up. I hope the game slows down for him and he gets some more sure hands while he is on the practice squad.

Mike Moore is a real sleeper. Something just tells me not to root against this kid. Hopefully he breaks the roster before the end of the year. I think he has more to offer than Derrick Williams does.

Brian Clark didn’t impress me much. I didn’t notice him doing anything big on special teams but then, blocking is super easy to not notice, especially on special teams.

Jon Jansen I was emotionally tied to. I know he is old but I thought he outplayed Gosder for two years now. I also liked him as a backup, I liked his versatility and I still don’t know why we kept Manny Ramirez over him. My only guess is that though he can play guard he didn’t do it well. I mean he had to be an absolutely horrible guard for them to keep Manny over him. Either that or Manny has taken one giant leap for himselfkind. It is understandable though why Hilliard beat him out considering that he can play both left and right tackle and is younger with a much bigger upside.

Korey Bosworth was actually better than I expected him to be mainly because I expected him to suck. He held his own against the other teams 3rd and 4th string, but that wasn’t actually very impressive either. I hope he heals up good and does not have any permanent effects from the broken leg.

Landon Cohen was probably the one I scratched my head the most about until it was pointed out to me that Fluellen plays special teams, tackle, and end. Then I remembered that he was the guy to get the main block on Nick Sorensen and knock him out during the Cleveland game. After that I remember the article about teams having their top 40-45 pretty much set prior to game 4 of the preseason. So I think Cohen just did too little too late to beat out Fluellen. I am sure this is one I agonized over.

Robert Callaway we are all pulling for. I can only hope that they seen enough in this kid to make the sting of losing Cohen less. From what I saw he needs at least a full year of strengthening up though, if not more.

Caleb Campbell is rough but I like everything about him. I wish the Lions would have kept him on the roster Ekejiuba. I still can’t figure this one out. The only thing I can think is that the Lions know no one will poach him off the practice squad because of his Army commitments. I honestly liked everything I saw from this guy and I think he will be on the team before you know it. Julian Peterson is a free agent next year I believe so a roster spot should open up by then, if not before then. If Ekejiuba was eligible for the practice squad I think this would have went differently. Caleb just fit too nicely onto that niche but I fully expect him to battle his way on to this team before the year is out. I was extremely impressed with his speed, hitting, tackling, and he was pretty solid on reads too for his experience level.

Vinny Ciurciu I thought was absolutely solid in the run game and absolutely horrible in the passing game. Given that he is 30 and other players were outshining him on special teams that are younger I was not surprised at all he was cut.

Dre Bly surprised me at first. The guy certainly has ball skills, but he has not only lost a wheel I think he lost the axle, drive shaft, and transmission as well. When I seen Denvers defensive lineman run him down I tried to convince myself it was because Dre was not running full speed, or that he took a bad angle. But then I had a flashback to him on the 49ers showboating after an interception and getting caught from behind. All you have to do is look at the receivers we face this weekend to know why he was cut. Speed kills, and lack thereof seems to cut. Alphonso might be inconsistent but he is probably the biggest play maker we have in the secondary right now. Expect him to get more interceptions than anyone else we have, if Gunther does not kill him that is.

Eric King was a cut that I actually felt good about. Not because I wish the guy any ill at all, but because it proved to me that Schwartz and co are not playing favorites. It was the right move and I was relieved that it happened.

Dante Wesley was another that surprised me. Again I was relieved that the coaches are not playing favorites. I thought he was a solid special teams gunner but he failed to play good enough on defense to keep a spot. Though he was not horrible at corner he only looked average out there against 3rd and 4th stringers.

Paul Pratt is a guy I like. I happen to think that he will make this team at some time but I also think he needs work on the mental side of the game. I would not be surprised to see him on our roster, or another before the year is out.

Jonathan Hefney was a guy that lost his job to Amari Spievey. From what I recall in the news they coaches wanted him to basically be a cover safety and a ball hawk. He is small but supposedly plays big. Speculating here because I did not see enough of Hefney to judge with my eyes but it seems to connect the dots i my head to make sense. No need to have two defensive back type safeties on the roster so you may as well keep the more talented and promising one.

T. J. Rushing looked all right to me on special teams for what little we saw of him. He looked all right at corner against the 3rd and 4th sting guys too, for what little we saw of him. But I think he was the odd man out before he ever put a Lions jersey on.

Ko Simpson was a decent backup and average starter. I agree that the injuries just caught up with him. He may catch on with another team somewhere, maybe even the Bears since they need safety help so bad. It would have been a good move for them to pick him up and pick his brains for our playbook. The only thing I can think is that they are already carrying so many secondary players because of injury that they cannot afford the roster spot or he would be a Bear already.

Steven Haushka looked like a god in Denver. Then we came back to Detroit and he looked like any other average kicker that gets cut from any of 32 NFL teams. If you can’t boot it out of the end zone in an indoor field more than 2/3rd of the time your not worth keeping as a 2nd kicker. On a side note I watched a punter that did an Aussie spin kick, something about making the football come come back out from the goal line when it hits, because it has a different type of spin on it. Nick Harris needs to learn that ASAP!

Cliff Louis, Noah Franklin, Dan Gerberry, and Jaron Baston were just camp bodies to me. I never even bothered to learn who they were.

during the preseason. Cherilus actually looked pretty good.

Bly, Jansen, Cohen, Simpson but I don’t think they’re the wrong cuts. I can see what they were doing and what they are aiming for. I’m fine with that. I’ll trust the Coaching staff.