Less than one week from today, the Detroit Lions preseason will be over and their roster trimmed from 90 to 53 players in what will seem like a blink of an eye. While this doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone who follows the NFL, even those who would deem themselves plugged in to their favorite team can end up being caught off guard by a roster transaction or two.
Each year, it seems as though there’s at least one player who hits the cutting room floor that had a roster spot as good as locked up. Theo Riddick’s release earlier this offseason certainly came as a surprise to many, but considering how many running backs the Lions had on their roster, it didn’t seem as shocking as it would have been before the draft.
With 37 cuts to be made and the Lions faced with having to weather the storm known as attrition with the loss of Jarrad Davis and Frank Ragnow for an indeterminable amount of time, it’s time to get to today’s question of the day...
Which Lions player would come as a surprise cut to you?
On this week’s episode of the PODcast, the name Zach Zenner came to mind when I thought of players that would come as a surprise to me if they were to be cut.
First and foremost, Zenner belongs on an NFL roster. He has a skillset in the backfield each team would define as valuable, and he can play special teams. But when you step back and take a look at this Lions roster from a macro level, things don’t seem so sure for one of Matt Patricia’s favorite guys.
Detroit already seems to have four backs destined to make the roster—in my opinion, at least: Kerryon Johnson, C.J. Anderson, Ty Johnson, and Nick Bawden. Doesn’t Detroit need to keep a couple extra players for depth at other positions due to injuries? Spending five roster spots on backs seems like it would be a short-sighted move.
Your turn.