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The Detroit Lions had a lot of problems on Thursday night in their 30-14 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. On offense the Lions looked especially bad, failing to score a touchdown until their very last possession of the game. There are many culprits to blame for the poor team effort, and as a result our latest 53-man roster prediction has a lot of overturn on the offensive side of the ball.
| Players currently on roster: 90 | |||
| QB Matthew Stafford | TE Eric Ebron | DE Ziggy Ansah | CB Darius Slay |
| QB Dan Orlovsky | TE Andrew Quarless | DE Devin Taylor | CB Nevin Lawson |
| QB Jake Rudock | TE Matthew Mulligan | DE Wallace Gilberry | CB Quandre Diggs |
| TE Adam Fuehne | DE Brandon Copeland | CB Crezdon Butler | |
| RB Ameer Abdullah | TE Cole Wick | DE Anthony Zettel | CB Johnson Bademosi |
| RB Theo Riddick | TE Orson Charles | DE Deonte Gibson | CB Darrin Walls |
| RB Zach Zenner | TE Brandon Pettigrew (PUP) | DE Quanterus Smith | CB Keith Lewis |
| RB George Winn | CB Alex Carter | ||
| RB Dwayne Washington | OT Riley Reiff | DT Haloti Ngata | CB Adairius Barnes |
| RB Stevan Ridley | OT Taylor Decker | DT Tyrunn Walker | CB Rashaad Reynolds |
| OT Michael Ola | DT Caraun Reid | CB Charles Washington | |
| FB Michael Burton | OT Cornelius Lucas | DT A'Shawn Robinson | |
| OT Corey Robinson | DT Khyri Thornton | S Glover Quin | |
| WR Marvin Jones | OT Luke Marquardt | DT Gabe Wright | S Rafael Bush |
| WR Golden Tate | OT Chase Farris | DT Stefan Charles | S Tavon Wilson |
| WR TJ Jones | DT Kerry Hyder | S Miles Killebrew | |
| WR Anquan Boldin | OG Laken Tomlinson | DT Louis Palmer | S Don Carey |
| WR Andre Roberts | OG Larry Warford | S Isaiah Johnson | |
| WR Corey Fuller (PUP) | OG Geoff Schwartz | LB DeAndre Levy | |
| WR Jeremy Kerley | OG Joe Dahl | LB Tahir Whitehead | K Matt Prater |
| WR Jay Lee | LB Josh Bynes | K Devon Bell | |
| WR Quinshad Davis | C Travis Swanson | LB Kyle Van Noy | |
| WR Jace Billingsley | C Graham Glasgow | LB Antwione Williams | P Sam Martin |
| C Gabe Ikard | LB Jon Bostic | ||
| C Lemuel Jeanpierre | LB Khaseem Greene | LS Don Muhlbach | |
| LB Chi Chi Ariguzo | LS Jimmy Landes | ||
| LB Zaviar Gooden | |||
| LB Dominique Tovell | |||
Offense
Changes:
IN: RB George Winn
OUT: RB Stevan Ridley
I held out as long as I could with Ridley. I was convinced the Lions were just trying to keep him healthy and limit his reps in the preseason. But it appears he's legitimately behind both Zach Zenner and George Winn in the depth chart. Ridley has yet to show anything truly positive, and while I think the coaches may like him more than the analysts and fans do, Ridley is running out of good graces with his poor play.
Winn takes his spot because of his familiarity with the offense and he special teams skills. Dwayne Washington deserves some serious consideration here, but I need to see more out of him against better competition before I start really giving him credit.
IN: WR Andre Roberts
OUT: WR Jay Lee
The Jay Lee hype train lasted all of one week with me. He finally got his first two receptions on Thursday night against the Bengals, but he hasn't shown enough value to warrant a roster spot at this point. Roberts on the other hand continues to contribute with the first-half offense and even on special teams. Roberts returned two punts on Thursday and a kickoff too. Jay Lee doesn't have the skillset for that.
IN: TE Andrew Quarless
OUT: Cole Wick
Even though Wick continues to pull in some nice passes, he looks completely outmatched as a blocker. At this point, Orson Charles may be more worthy of a roster spot than Wick, as Charles pulled in more catches on Thursday and didn't get completely worked as a blocker.
Instead, I put Quarless into the final 53. I'm convinced if the Lions were really willing to take the media hit for bringing in Quarless along with all of his baggage, they are serious about him making the team, regardless of his upcoming two-game suspension. We didn't see Quarless on Thursday night, but next week's game is going to be big for him.
Defense
Changes:
IN: CB Crezdon Butler
OUT: CB Alex Carter
I know, I know. Cornerbacks take three years to catch on, and you could argue this is really Carter's first year -- after sitting out his entire rookie season with an injury. But Carter just looks like he's way too far behind right now, both in practice and in games. If the Lions decide to cut ties with him, he's very likely to get swiped up on waivers before Detroit has a chance to place him on the practice, but so it goes.
Butler is the safer option, as he's been around longer and had a modicum of success. Since this battle is for the sixth cornerback position, it will be won on special teams. Butler has five years of experience on special teams. Carter has zero.