• And now for your daily Tatum Bell "bag-gate" update... Bell went on The Dan Patrick Show yesterday to defend himself and really didn't come out looking any less guilty.  His story seems like it could be true at some points, but as Patrick said, there are too many loose ends.  Bell easily could have grabbed Rudi Johnson's bags thinking they were Victor DeGrate's, but that doesn't explain what happened to everything in the bags.  If Johnson's stuff turned up then this story could be put to rest, but that doesn't exactly seem like it's going to happen anytime soon.
• One other note from the Tatum Bell interview is that The DP Show tried to get Rudi Johnson to come on, but he wasn't available according to the Lions.  I don't doubt that the Lions likely want Johnson to keep quiet regarding this entire situation so it doesn't become a bigger distraction than it already is, but even if they don't care Johnson is probably spending his free time studying the playbook anyways.
• Kevin Smith wasn't allowed to change his number to 24 after the league denied his request.  Smith is #34 right now and asked safety Dwight Smith if he could take over the #24 jersey, but the NFL wouldn't let him as Smith's rookie cards and jersey sold to the public read #34.
  
  After Greg Blue, who was #24, was cut a week ago, there have been a few number changes.  Dwight Smith apparently took Blue's old number before switching back to #26, and Kalvin Pearson then took #24 over to leave #32 open for Rudi Johnson.
• Drew Stanton's cast was "reconfigured" to allow him to at least hand the ball off should he absolutely have to come into a game.  That would mean that both Jon Kitna and Dan Orlovsky went down with injuries, so let's hope Stanton doesn't have to play in a situation like that.
• Barry Sanders is still getting asked questions about why he retired when he did.

The Lions announced their 53-man roster today after releasing 20 players and placing 2 on the injured reserve.  The two players placed on the IR were running backs Brian Calhoun and Aveion Cason.  With both Calhoun and Cason done for the year, you would have thought that Artose Pinner would make the team, but he didn't.  That means the Lions will carry only two running backs going into the regular season.

Here is the full list of the players released today by Detroit:

QB Drew Henson
RB Artose Pinner
WR Ron Bellamy
WR Devale Ellis
WR Brandon Middleton
WR Kenneth Moore
WR John Standeford
TE Clark Harris
OT Jonathan Scott
OG Frank Davis
OG Corey Hulsey
DE Victor DeGrate
DE Rudolph Hardie
LB Darnell Bing
LB Buster Davis
LB Leon Joe
CB Dovonte Edwards
CB Kiwaukee Thomas
S Greg Blue
S LaMarcus Hicks

I'll post a full analysis of what all of this means tomorrow.

• The Lions went back outside for both practices on Monday and wore full pads in the morning and helmets and shorts in the afternoon.
• In case you missed it, the Lions cleared out their PUP list by moving Shaun McDonald, Dan Campbell, and Daniel Bullocks to the active roster.
• A fan heckling Roy Williams during Monday's morning practice actually was ejected due to his behavior.  Here are the details of what happened:
  

  Mike Lazzara, 42, of Novi stood on the top step of the bleachers amid a sparse, mostly quiet crowd. He repeatedly shouted to Williams about taking plays off.
  
  “I didn’t use any profanity to him,” Lazzara said. “I wanted just to be constructive and tell the guy, ‘You know, I’m not making $20 million a season.’ The guy takes plays off. You guys look at the tape.”
  
  Williams heard Lazzara as he went back to the huddle, then walked over to the fence separating the fans from the field. Williams suggested they switch jobs, as some of his teammates yelled.
  
  “It just came out of nowhere, and I was like, ‘Huh?’ ” Williams said. “And he said it again, and I was just like, ‘What?’ And he said it again.”

  I'm not someone to say that you can't be negative at all, but this fan does seem to be in the wrong.  If you're going to be loud and yell at someone, don't call out Roy Williams for "taking plays off."  Use your frustration to repeatedly yell "Fire Millen" or something like that.  It makes no sense to go after Roy like that, especially in an obnoxious way.
  
• By the way, the final Lions practices open to the public this year are today.  The morning session begins at 8:35 a.m. and in the afternoon there will be a special teams practice at 3:30 p.m.
• Rod Marinelli isn't happy that the Lions lost out on signing Takeo Spikes.
• With Takeo Spikes not joining the Lions, there are many questions that remain regarding who will move to strong side linebacker and who will stay in the middle.  Between Jordon Dizon and Paris Lenon, someone will have to move to strong side linebacker, and the Lions hope it's Lenon.  Problem is, the chances of that happening are slim as Dizon is too inexperienced to be the starting middle linebacker right now, leaving Lions coaches facing quite the conundrum.
• For the first time this training camp, the Lions' entire starting offense practiced together.
• There is a very good chance the Lions could decide to keep five safeties on the 53-man roster, meaning Greg Blue would make the team.
• Stanley Wilson has officially been placed on the injured reserve list.
• The United Football League will welcome Mike Vick out of prison with open arms as it isn't likely he will be able to play in the NFL until 2010 at the earliest.
• Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are reportedly going to play the halftime show at Super Bowl XLIII.