Just as we did yesterday with the offense, today we are taking a look at where the Detroit Lions defense and special teams stand going into the offseason. After the jump you can check out a rundown of each position with the players divided up based on if they are under contract or if they are set to become a free agent this offseason. This will serve as a general overview of the defense and special teams as we get set to take a more in-depth look at each unit in the coming weeks.

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In the coming weeks, as we start focusing more on the NFL Draft and free agency, Pride of Detroit will go through the Detroit Lions roster in a position-by-position breakdown of the team. Like we have done many times in the past, the breakdown will focus on where each position stands and what needs exist going forward. Essentially, the series of posts will serve as a primer for what the Lions need to do during the offseason.

Before we start looking at each position, I first want to take a more general look at the Lions roster. To do this, I have broken down the roster by position and divided up the players based on if they are under contract for next season or if they are set to become a free agent in March. I decided against including the cap hit for each player since I couldn't find numbers that I knew were accurate. If you want information like that, I suggest checking out Spotrac or Rotoworld.

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The Detroit Lions have been busy making some moves in recent weeks, both with their active roster and their practice squad. Although the active roster doesn't look that much different from what it did at the start of the season, now is a good time to take a look at the roster as the Lions get ready for the second half of the season.

After the jump you can find the active roster, practice squad and injured reserve.

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It looks like the Detroit Lions roster for the opening week of the 2011 season is set. After trimming down their roster to 53 players on Saturday and doing some fine-tuning on Sunday, the Lions appear to have finalized their squad for Week 1. It's always possible a trade or another move could happen, but as of early Monday morning, the Lions roster looks like this:

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By Saturday night, the Detroit Lions will have made their final cuts and will have only 53 players left on their roster. Who will take up those 53 spots is a tough call with many position battles still undecided, but things have been cleared up quite a bit at many positions over the past few weeks.

I'm not ready to call this my final 53-man roster prediction considering there is still one more preseason game to further clear things up, but this very well could be my final stab at the roster going into Saturday's cuts. It all depends on if anything noteworthy happens in Buffalo tonight. If nothing happens to change my current predictions, this is my last take at the Lions 53-man roster:

Quarterback

Keep (3): Matthew Stafford, Shaun Hill, Drew Stanton

Cut: Zac Robinson

Although there was some talk at one point this preseason about Robinson pushing Stanton for the third QB job, nothing that has happened suggests Stanton will lose his spot. As a result, I once again went with Stafford, Hill and Stanton as the three quarterbacks.

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Although the major focus this week is on the final round of NFL roster cuts that will happen on Saturday, teams will continue making moves on Sunday and Monday. Not only will teams take a look at filling needs on their 53-man roster with players let go during the final round of cuts, but they will also start assembling their practice squad.

The Detroit Lions may bring in a player or two from other teams to fill up their eight spots on the practice squad, but most openings will be filled with guys they let go during the final round of cuts. In order to get an idea of what the practice squad could look like, I've gone through the roster and determined that the following players are eligible to be on it (based on the practice squad rules I posted yesterday):

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I made one big change on each side of the ball for this week's Detroit Lions roster prediction. Let's start first with the change on offense.

WR Maurice Stovall in, FB Jerome Felton out

Stovall had an excellent game against the Cleveland Browns last week, catching four passes for 67 yards and one touchdown. More importantly, he showed he can be a reliable target at wide receiver. The same can't be said for Derrick Williams, who lost his spot in last week's roster prediction. Stovall has clearly passed him on the depth chart, and I now have Stovall securing a spot on the roster.

The difficult part about adding Stovall was deciding who should not make the 53-man roster. In the end I settled on Felton. When thinking about worth to the team, I ultimately decided that Stovall was more valuable to the Lions than Felton. Obviously there could be a problem with not having a true fullback on the roster, but I think Will Heller has shown enough at fullback to allow the Lions to part ways with Felton. Also, with Stefan Logan helping depth in the backfield (I probably should just list him as a running back instead of a receiver), the Lions can afford to go with Stovall at receiver instead of Felton at fullback.

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One preseason game is in the books and another one will be after tonight. As a result, it's time for the second edition of my 2011 Detroit Lions 53-man roster prediction.

Last week I went through the roster and broke everything down position-by-position. I outlined why I went with certain players and discussed potential battles for spots that were looming. This week I've simplified things a bit since I only made one change to my 53-man squad: Aaron Brown is in; Derrick Williams is out.

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