Lions claim DT Caushaud Lyons, waive TE Andrew Price

Earlier in the day, our own Ryan Mathews suggested the Detroit Lions make a run at free agent defensive end Desmond Bryant, who was recently released by the Cleveland Browns. On Wednesday, the Lions added a defensive lineman, but it wasn’t Bryant.

The team announced that they were awarded defensive tackle Caushaud Lyons from waivers. Lyons was waived by the Los Angeles Rams on Tuesday. Since entering the league in 2015, Lyons has spent time on the Buccaneers, Steelers, Titans and Rams. He has yet to play in a regular season game.

Lyons comes from Tusculum College, a Division II South Atlantic conference school. There, he was a finalist for the Gene Upshaw award, which is given to the best D2 lineman every year. Even though he was projected as a late-round pick, Lyons went undrafted in 2015.

However, he was a sought-after undrafted free agent because of his unique physical tools. According to Buccaneers.com, Lyons “recorded a 475-pound bench press and 600-pound squat.” Combine that with 4.87 40-yard dash speed, and you’ve got an extremely athletic guy.

While Lyons hasn’t stuck around with any one team quite yet, the fact that he’s still bouncing around teams in his third year in the league show that many believe there’s still potential there.

For the Lions, they’ll look to see if Lyons can fit in their rotation. Detroit’s top four defensive tackles are likely set in Haloti Ngata, A’Shawn Robinson, Akeem Spence and Jordan Hill, but Detroit likes to rotate a lot, so there will likely be a spot for another defensive tackle or two.

Lyons only has a couple weeks to see if the Lions and Lyons are a match.

To make room for Lyons, Detroit has waived tight end Andrew Price, who was added just a week ago.