Report: Stephen Tulloch excused from mandatory minicamp, expected to be released

Stephen Tulloch may still stunningly be a member of the Detroit Lions, but that doesn't mean he has all of the responsibilities that come along with it. According to Ian Rapoport, Tulloch has been excused from mandatory minicamp, which begins on Tuesday:

#Lions LB Stephen Tulloch is excused from mandatory minicamp, source said. His impending release should come in the next few weeks.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 13, 2016

Very little is known about this situation. Tulloch is expected to be released, and it is pretty clear at this point he won't be a part of the Lions roster this year. But why hasn't Detroit made it official?

One popular theory was Tulloch had some sort of injury, so the Lions were simply negotiating injury settlement terms and they would come an agreement shortly. However, Dave Birkett debunked that theory last week while talking to Tulloch at one of his book signing events:

Tulloch said he has no injury issues & intends to play somewhere in 2016. Said the last few months haven't soured him on his time in Detroit

— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) June 9, 2016

Birkett himself reported back in March that the Lions were shopping the veteran linebacker for a trade, but at this point it is hard to believe Detroit will have any suitors with minicamp just around the corner.

So what is going? The truth is nobody knows. Beat writers are confounded, Lions officials are tight-lipped and Tulloch is just preaching patience. Hopefully, as Rapoport reported, this will all come to an end soon.