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Detroit Lions stock report: Bad play on cut week

It’s not unusual after a loss for there to be more bad than good news. It isn’t often there is such a large number of players moving down at the worst possible time to have a bad day.

By Kent Lee Platte
Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports

It wasn’t a pretty game against the Baltimore Ravens. In many ways, you could question it was a game at all. The Detroit Lions looked bad from start to finish against Jim Caldwell’s former team, at times when the first team was facing the Ravens’ second unit. As poor of an outing as it was, there were still some bright spots worth noting and we’re going to look at those as well as the worst offenders that hurt their stock. Once again, we look to your input, dear readers, to find places for our Open Market down below, so let us know in the comments who you disagree with that I placed and who you think should move from the market to stock up or stock down.

Stock Up: Travis Swanson, OC

I gotta tell ya, I didn’t expect to be putting a whole lot of positive notes up on Swanson. He had a rough training camp and has looked pretty bad in preseason thus far. Against the Ravens, however, he looked like a man possessed and was moving around whichever nose tackle or lineman that made the error of crossing him. On one play in particular, Swanson worked a double team to his left then disengaged to man up on a rusher that broke free to his right. That kind of field awareness, reaction speed, and actual blocking ability is something we haven’t seen much of out of Swanson and it is more welcome than any amount of points the team failed to get in the preseason.

Stock Down: Riley Reiff, OT

Most of the first half looked pretty good for Reiff, but he found his kryptonite in Matt Judon. Judon is a rookie out of Grand Valley State University and he was apparently tailor made to destroy Riley Reiff. Add to that the multiple penalties on Reiff and it turned out to be a pretty awful game overall. Reiff was responsible for the sack/fumble on Dan Orlovsky and was lucky to get on the ball before it became a turnover.

Stock Up: Tavon Wilson, SS

Tavon Wilson blitzed on one of the first defensive plays for the Lions. After that, he played outside corner while Nevin Lawson blitzed. In the first half, he would play deep center field, underneath zone, all over the place. The Detroit Lions very briefly showed Wilson’s versatility in training camp, but at that point Rafael Bush was deeply entrenched and there wasn’t much to it. With Wilson working exclusively with the first team now he was able to showcase the type of impact he can have. He’s looked far better than Bush playing across from Glover Quin and in many ways is fitting into the role that Quin used to have in the defense.

Stock Down: Darrin Walls, CB

For a little while, it looked like Darrin Walls may be stepping up in this defense and making a case not only for a roster spot but for actual playing time. Whatever goodwill he had earned he managed to squander by game’s end. Walls was abused routinely not by Joe Flacco and the starting receivers, but by Ryan Mallett and a series of reserve wide receivers. Giving up a TD where it looks like you gave up on the play is bad, but add missing tackles and several more catches, and it’s going to be a hard week for the former Jets starter.

Quick Hits

Stock Up

Ameer Abdullah, RB: While he dropped his first target in the passing game, Abdullah was far and away the best rusher the Lions have seen this preseason.
Jace Billingsley, WR: Billingsley dropped a late pass, but showed off a bit on special teams and looks like a good practice squad candidate.

Anquan Boldin, WR: Boldin showed why he’s going to be useful on third downs, moving the sticks when they absolutely must be moved.
Michael Burton, FB: We already know Burton can block, but he also got to catch a football against the Ravens, showing he can be more than just a lead blocker.
Orson Charles, TE: Charles had a nice catch on a crosser and didn’t get in anyone’s way while blocking. Baby steps. He isn’t making the team, but still a better day than he’s typically had.
Taylor Decker, OT: Decker had to square off against Terrell Suggs and looked pretty good. Had a false start penalty, but was otherwise good on a tough assignment.
Zaviar Gooden, LB: Saw the field with second team and managed to make some plays in the run game. Was around the ball often with second team.
Marvin Jones, WR: Jones may be Stafford’s favorite target and the guy has the best toes in the NFL (That makes sense, believe me).
TJ Jones, WR: It wasn’t a perfect day for Jones, who had a drop, but he also had a nice long reception and some positive special teams work.

Miles Killebrew, SS: Killebrew had some work with first team in dime formation, but also played pretty well in second team action.
Jimmy Landes, LS: My fellows here at POD disagree, some very vocally, but that Landes took every snap at LS and didn’t break any plays means he’s the guy for the roster. His 'horrible play' is widely overblown.
DeAndre Levy, LB: Levy played in an actual NFL game. It’s preseason, but it’s his first time back since his injury and he looked good.
Haloti Ngata, DT: The defensive player of the game for some, I think Ngata played alright and while the defense as a whole wasn’t great, it can’t be put on him.
Matt Prater, K: Prater missed a 52 yarder, but nailed a 60-yard kick that had plenty of room for error.
Theo Riddick, RB: Riddick had another drop, making it one in each preseason game, but finally had a run go his way after breaking a tackle up the middle.
Andre Roberts, WR: As long as he’s running a comeback route, Andre Roberts seems to make positive yards.
Khyri Thornton, DT: He’s clearly supplanted Caraun Reid as the third man in the Lions rotation.

Laken Tomlinson, OG: Had a bad penalty, but as a blocker, looked almost as good as Swanson did.
Larry Warford, OG: Warford continued to look like one of the best offensive linemen on the field.
Tahir Whitehead, LB: Came out better after an injury scare and looked good on the day.
Cole Wick, TE: Only just north of breaking even, Wick held his own as a blocker but more importantly got the start in the only preseason game where that matters.
Zach Zenner, RB: I struggled with where to put Zenner, as he didn’t take any first-team offensive snaps, but he did well on ST and ran well with second team.

Stock Down

Devon Bell, K: If you’re auditioning for a different team, it helps if you don’t make kicks that would look out of place in PeeWee football.
Jon Bostic, LB: Rumor is that Bostic is headed to IR. If we see Bostic as a Lion, it won’t be until the second half of the season at earliest.
Rafael Bush, SS: With Tavon Wilson looking so good, Bush was relegated to the second-team defense. By that point, the Ravens were fielding scrubs and Bush had no positive impact.
Crezdon Butler, CB: Butler hasn’t had a good run of this preseason and he continued his poor play against the Ravens. He wasn’t Darrin Walls bad, but close.
Stefan Charles, DT: Charles didn’t get much work until late and is clearly not well thought of in this defense. Looked poor in what work he had.
Brandon Copeland, DE: Note to opposing offenses: Just run to Copeland’s side every time he’s on the field. You’ll get yardage.
Quinshad Davis, WR: Davis didn’t get any opportunities until late, but dropped his first pass and bobbled a second out of bounds in the end zone.

Eric Ebron, TE: Signs were pointing to a Eric Ebron recovery prior to the game this week, but he’s either had a small setback or simply won’t be ready when we hoped. No alarm bells, but not a positive week.
Khaseem Greene, LB: Greene has had some good weeks, but this wasn’t one of them.

Gabe Ikard, OC: No notable impact and barring a more serious Glasgow injury Ikard isn't long for the roster.
Lemuel Jeanpierre, OC: Jeanpierre showed up only late in the game against third stringers and seemed to be moved around easily.
Jeremy Kerley, WR: Kerley was replaced by Jace Billingsley as the second-team slot receiver. He’s a third-team slot receiver now.
Nevin Lawson, CB: Lawson looked pretty bad in coverage and was the target of choice for the first-team Ravens offense.

Jay Lee, WR: Lee didn’t get any snaps until late in the game and failed to do anything with them.
Luke Marquardt, OT: Marquardt may be the worst player on the roster, even after Devon Bell’s kick. He’s a defensive player highlight reel in cleats.
Andrew Quarless, TE: Many expected Quarless to have an immediate impact for the Lions, but he failed to see the field in the first half, and I didn’t notice him in the second either.
Caraun Reid, DT: Aside from one play where he beat the snap cleanly, Reid was beaten on nearly every snap with second and third team.
A’Shawn Robinson, DT: Robinson has struggled this preseason and it continued against the Ravens.
Jake Rudock, QB: The Rudock hype seems to have quieted after a rough outing where he could get nothing going.
Darius Slay, CB: It wasn’t a great day for Slay who seemed to be running at half speed. Protecting himself against injury maybe, but not a good day.
Matthew Stafford, QB: This is his offense, run his way, and he has yet to score a TD. The pick he threw was pretty nasty as well.
Devin Taylor, DE: Taylor got little to no pressure even when the Ravens started subbing in second team.
Dwayne Washington, RB: After a week of hype, Washington looked out of his element and failed to make any impact. He played alright, what lands him here is the incredible hype he received then failed to live up to.
Antwione Williams, LB: An embarrassing penalty aside, Williams was hit or miss against the Ravens with the misses being more common.

George Winn, RB: The last RB in the rotation, Winn had nothing to show for his troubles.
Gabe Wright, DT: The last DT to play in the game, Wright didn’t show much after having positive showings previously.

No Change

Ezekiel Ansah, DE: Ansah looked decent when I keyed in on him, but failed to generate significant pressure or collapse the pocket noticeably against a rookie OT.
Wallace Gilberry, DE: Gilberry was on the field during nickel plays as a rusher, but didn’t have much noticeable impact.
Sam Martin, P: He’s still good.
Don Muhlbach, LS: Still a good long snapper. Landes likely taking his job, but he’ll find work if anyone needs someone to snap longer than a normal snap.
Michael Ola, OT: He is still injured.
Dan Orlovsky, QB: Had a fumble that wasn’t his fault, but played alright otherwise.
Glover Quin, FS: Not much to note with Quin, who has yet to really be challenged this preseason.
Corey Robinson, OT: He is still injured.
Geoff Schwartz, OG: Also still injured.
Kyle Van Noy, LB: Missed a tackle, making at least one in each preseason game, but looked good both covering the flats and blitzing. High variance player.
Tyrunn Walker, DT: I saw a little bit of positive, but not enough to put him in that category.
Anthony Zettel, DL: Neither up nor down, Zettel made a bad play for every good one he made and a good one for every bad.

Open Market

Chi Chi Ariguzo, LB
Johnson Bademosi, CB
Adairius Barnes, CB
Josh Bynes, LB
Don Carey, FS
Alex Carter, CB
Joe Dahl, OG
Quandre Diggs, CB
Chase Farris, OG
Adam Fuehne, TE
Deonte Gibson, DE
Graham Glasgow, OC
Kerry Hyder, DE
Isaiah Johnson, SS
Cornelius Lucas, OT
Brandon McGee, CB
Matthew Mulligan, TE
Louis Palmer, DL
Rashaad Reynolds, CB
Quanterus Smith, DE
Golden Tate, WR
Dominique Tovell, LB
Charles Washington, CB

There you are, PoD fans, let me know which players I was overly positive on or gave undue criticism. Let us know in the comments which players in the Open Market you felt had a good or bad day and later this week we’ll take stock of the roster once again!

BONUS - Guesses at first cuts

With cut downs looming, here's my guess at the first players cut as the team trims to 75 players this week (and here is a look at Jeremy Reisman's)

Chi Chi Ariguzo, LB
Adairius Barnes, CB
Devon Bell, K
Jon Bostic, LB (IR, not cut)
Orson Charles, TE
Quinshad Davis, WR
Deonte Gibson, DE
Kerry Hyder, DL
Gabe Ikard, OC
Isaiah Johnson, SS
Jeremy Kerley, WR
Luke Marquardt, OT
Louis Palmer, DL
Rashaad Reynolds, CB
Dominique Tovell, LB
Charles Washington, CB

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