To make room on the roster for kicker Dave Rayner, the Lions have released cornerback Jonathan Wade, according to Tom Kowalski.
Wade was signed in the offseason to be one of the Lions' new starters at cornerback. He and Chris Houston were slotted as the new starters and gave Lions fans hope that the secondary would be much improved this season. Well, the secondary has improved quite a bit, but not because of Wade. The move to trade for Alphonso Smith right before the start of the season was much more important to the secondary improving than signing Wade back during free agency. Smith quickly took Wade's starting job and the Lions haven't looked back.
Although Wade has the physical abilities, as Kowalski points out, he lost confidence after a rough start to the season. That opened up an opportunity for Smith and Wade just dropped down the depth chart. Now he is off the team altogether, as the Lions obviously feel comfortable with the corners they still have.