Lions sign rookie QB Alek Torgersen to practice squad

Late on Tuesday night, news broke that the Indianapolis Colts had poached developmental quarterback Brad Kaaya from the Detroit Lions’ practice squad. The move left the Lions without a third-string quarterback, even though they reportedly tried to keep Kaaya around.

But the Lions quickly remedied the situation on Wednesday by signing a new rookie quarterback to their practice squad. The Lions announced that former Penn quarterback Alek Torgersen has signed to the 10-man squad:

If that name sounds familiar, Torgersen was a favorite of our own Kent Lee Platte last offseason. Here’s what Kent had to say about Torgersen back in January:

Alek Torgersen out of Penn was the first name added to my Rothstein Scale for backup QBs (I went into brief detail about that last season) as an Ivy League champion and scholar athlete. It doesn’t hurt that he completed less than 60 percent of his passes only twice last season (his first two games) and only five times in his four year career. At 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, Torgersen has the size you want at the position, too. If you can’t tell, he’s my favorite to be a surprise late-round pick by the Lions, but the cat may be out of the bag at this point.

Torgersen ended up going undrafted, but played in the preseason with the Atlanta Falcons. There he completed 8 of 20 passes for 95 yards and two interceptions. He didn’t end up making the team and spent some a month on Washington’s practice squad before being cut in early October.

In college, Torgersen was a three-year starter at Penn. In total, he completed 65.1 percent of his passes for 7.3 yards per attempt, 52 touchdowns and 18 interceptions.

Torgersen isn’t going to see any game action in the Lions’ finale on Sunday, but by locking him into the practice squad, there’s a good chance Detroit offers him a futures contract after the season, and he could compete for a roster spot in 2018.