Detroit Lions waive OL Tommy Kraemer, may be signing CB Quinton Dunbar

Tuesday afternoon, the Detroit Lions announced they have waived offensive lineman Tommy Kraemer. The reserve lineman missed out on the Lions’ initial 53-man roster but was signed to the practice squad shortly thereafter. For Week 1, the Lions signed him to the 53-man roster helping add some offensive line depth in the wake of Taylor Decker’s finger injury that landed him on injured reserve. Detroit did not end up using him, though, as Kraemer was one of the team’s six inactives for the 49ers game.

Kraemer will now hit waivers, but you have to think as long as a team doesn’t put in a claim for him, there’s a good chance he’ll end up back on the practice squad. The Lions conveniently have an open spot on their practice squad after the Carolina Panthers poached kicker Zane Gonzalez.

With Kraemer’s waiving and the placing of cornerback Jeff Okudah on injured reserve earlier this week, the Lions now have two open spots on the roster. On Monday, head coach Dan Campbell said he expects the team to add some cornerback help soon.

“We need to add someone just to help us on the overall roster, even from a practice standpoint,” Campbell said. “We’re looking into that, Brad’s looking to it and that’s coming. That will probably be sooner than later.”

One potential option is veteran cornerback Quinton Dunbar. The 29-year-old defensive back spent training camp with the Lions but was eventually cut by the team when Dunbar had to spend an extended amount of time away from the facility due to a personal issue. According to a report from NFL Network, the Lions have since reached out to Dunbar to rejoin the team, but the cornerback is currently weighing his options.

UPDATE: Dunbar addressed this report on his Instagram page, seemingly confirming that he’ll be coming back. He also opens up that his uncle died at the beginning of camp and he needed time away to take care of himself.

Contemplated with myself time and time again about not playing this year I lost my uncle early in training camp and felt like taking care myself and my mental was bigger than football, but unk this one for you I got so much more to prove..... “top”

UPDATE 2: Dunbar has now deleted this Instagram post. Here’s a screenshot of it from Tuesday afternoon: