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With the deadline at 4 PM to whittle the Lions roster down to 75 players looms closer, the Lions made moves on Monday and Tuesday to remove a few players from the roster. They don't cut out, and therefore they are cut. While these names may not seem that significant -- players signed mere months or weeks ago to practice squad or offseason duties alone -- it's important to note that these are real people who competed for these jobs and are now being handed their things and asked to vacate the premises. It is a grim meathook reality for many whose dreams were to simply play professional football. For now, those dreams are on hold for a few more players.
We start on Monday with a couple of players that were not grabbing the headlines, unlike fan favorite Ryan Broyles, who was released on Monday at his decision. While that was going on, the Lions also waived running back Desmond Martin. Martin was an undrafted free agent out of NCAA Division 2 Wayne State. He had a strong rookie minicamp but it would appear he simply did not pan out to the team's liking during training camp and practice.
Also on Monday, the Lions cut defensive tackle Erik Williams, formerly of Bethune-Cookman. The Lions had previously acquired Erik Williams on August 23rd, along with linebacker Justin Cherocci. If you're keeping track, that means Erik lasted only eight days on the roster.
His counterpart in that acquisition lasted less than 24 hours longer. On Tuesday, the Lions cut Cherocci, along with wide receiver Andrew Peacock. Like Cherocci, Peacock was an undrafted rookie. Peacock had seen time during the preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he failed to catch Kellen Moore's two-point conversion pass.
The move to take Peacock off the roster may be a sign to the future of TJ Jones on the team:
Based on how Lions tried to hide TJ Jones last preseason game, it looks like he could be headed to practice squad this year w/ no Peacock.
— Josh Katzenstein (@jkatzenstein) September 1, 2015
The Detroit Lions must still make one more move before 4:00 p.m. EDT to get the roster down to the maximum 75 players.