• Jon Kitna had an MRI on Wednesday and is questionable for Sunday's game against the Vikings.  He missed practice due to his back injury and may not be healthy enough to play this weekend.  Dan Orlovsky and Drew Stanton split the reps in practice to fill in for Kitna.  Orlovsky is still suffering from the effects of a couple different injuries, but in all likelihood he will be ready for Sunday.
• No, Roy Williams, the Lions will not go 12-4, 11-5, or 10-6.  In fact, they will be lucky to win more than a few games, so I would just worry about that right now.
• The Panthers signed fifth-round draft pick and wide receiver Kenneth Moore from the Lions practice squad.
• Shaun Cody, Travis Fisher, Jon Kitna, Edwin Mulitalo, Casey FitzSimmons, Dan Orlovsky, Stephen Peterman, and Roy Williams are all on the Lions' initial injury report for this week.
• Erin Henderson, Bernard Berrian, Vinny Ciurciu, Ray Edwards, Jim Kleinsasser, Sidney Rice, Benny Sapp, John Sullivan, and Madieu Williams are on Minnesota's injury report right now.
• Contrary to a report in the Dayton Daily News, the 49ers do not have interest in trading for Roy Williams.
• It has only been four games, but Leigh Bodden definitely has not lived up to the hype.  Even worse, the Lions gave him a big contract in the offseason before he did anything on the field for them.
• Mike Furrey doesn't understand what keeps going wrong for the Lions on game day.
• Steve Mariucci thinks the Lions can win if they bring in the right personnel.  He's correct in a "Captain Obvious" sort of way, but he does raise a good point that the Lions need someone that can bring in the right personnel.  Matt Millen didn't bring in any of the right players or coaches, and even Rod Marinelli has brought in players that don't seem to be all that good. 
  
  If Detroit can hire a GM that in turn hires the right coach and signs and drafts the right players, then yes, the Lions can become winners.  However, it would take an awful lot for all of those things to go correctly, and based on the past, it seems unlikely that Detroit will become a winner anytime soon.
• The Red Wings begin their season tonight and will raise a banner honoring last season's Stanley Cup-winning team before the game.  For more on the Red Wings, check out Winging It In Motown.
• No thanks to the Lions, the Sporting News ranked Detroit as the second best sports city behind Boston.

In addition to the signing/claiming of two players and the releasing of two more, the Lions also established their practice squad today.  Eight players comprise the practice squad, giving the Lions depth beyond their active roster for when injuries happen throughout the season.  It's not exactly a case of if injuries happen as they always do, and many players from the practice squad join the active roster at some point in a season to fill in for injured players.

Should any injuries happen this season, the Lions will first look to these eight members of the practice squad for added depth:

QB Drew Henson
RB Allen Ervin
WR Eric Fowler
WR Kenneth Moore
TE Jake Nordin
OG Matt Butler
LB Darnell Bing
S LaMarcus Hicks

Of the eight players on the practice squad, four were released yesterday by the Lions (Henson, Moore, Bing, and Hicks).  Eric Fowler has been on and off the team in a matter of days on separate occasions this summer, but he wasn't with the Lions when final cuts were made yesterday.

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.

With training camp officially getting started Thursday, the Lions were beginning to run out of time to sign their rookies.  Third-round pick Cliff Avril already signed earlier this month, but he was the only Lions rookie to do so; that is, until today.  Six other Lions rookies were signed to contracts today, meaning all but two have officially joined the team.  The six rookies that signed today are listed below.

Third-rounders: HB Kevin Smith (Central Florida), DT Andre Fluellen (Florida State)
Fifth-rounders: WR Kenneth Moore (Wake Forest), FB Jerome Felton (Furman)
Seventh-rounders: DT Landon Cohen (Ohio), LB Caleb Campbell (Army)

Including Avril, seven of the Lions' nine draft picks now have contracts.  That leaves offensive tackle Gosder Cherilus and linebacker Jordon Dizon as the only Lions rookies without deals.  I hope talks progress over night and into tomorrow as it's important to get every single rookie signed by the time training camp starts.  That way nobody has to miss any practice, which is especially vital for Cherilus and Dizon as they will contend for starting jobs.  Even one day missed is big as every second on the field counts.

Pride of Detroit will have the latest on any signings that happen, so keep checking back to see if Cherilus and Dizon get a deal done.