Lions sign DE Corey Wootton

Corey Wootton's tour of the NFC North is set to continue this year. After playing for the Chicago Bears from 2010-13 and the Minnesota Vikings in 2014, Wootton is now a member of the Detroit Lions. He worked out for the Lions earlier this week, and he signed a one-year deal with the team on Thursday.

Excited to sign to the @Lions ! Can't wait to get started!

— Corey Wootton (@CoreyWootton) May 14, 2015

Wootton has spent time at both defensive end and defensive tackle in the past, but Dave Birkett reports that Wootton will play DE with the Lions. This means that he's joining an already crowded position that features Ziggy Ansah, Jason Jones, Darryl Tapp, Devin Taylor, Larry Webster, Phillip Hunt and Kerry Hyder. The departure of George Johnson means that a spot is up for grabs going into next season, but the assumption has been that Webster will step into that role.

In any case, the Lions clearly think that Wootton has a decent chance of making the 53-man roster:

Wootton's deal was a minimum salary benefit deal. He got an $80k signing bonus, plus a portion of his base salary guaranteed.

— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) May 14, 2015

As usual, simply getting a signing bonus and a partially guaranteed contract doesn't mean Wootton is a lock to make the team. However, it does mean that the battle for roster spots on the D-line just got a lot more interesting, especially when you factor in that Wootton could potentially play defensive tackle if needed.

With the Lions signing Wootton, by the way, they now once again have 90 players. It's entirely possible that more moves are coming considering how busy this week has been from a transactions standpoint, but their post-draft roster shuffling appears to be complete for the time being.