Detroit Lions release 6 players from practice squad

The Detroit Lions are only two days into the offseason but they continue to make roster decisions for 2022. On Tuesday, the team announced that they had released six players from their practice squad and confirmed yesterday’s transaction report of them claiming safety JuJu Hughes from the Los Angeles Rams.

The following players were released:

• WR Geronimo Allison
• TE Nick Eubanks
• TE Ross Travis
• OT Darrin Paulo
• G Parker Ehinger
• CB Nickell Robey-Coleman

As the Lions work towards building their 90-man offseason roster, the first step they have opted to take is to make decisions on their Street Free Agents (SFA). The Lions entered the offseason with 17 SFAs. Nine of them were signed to futures deals yesterday, the above six were released, and only decisions on nickelback/returner Corey Ballentine and kicker Aldrick Rosas remain.

Moving on from the above skill players—Allison, Eubanks, and Travis—isn’t very surprising, as the team leaned on them very little during the season. The other three decisions are only slightly surprising. Paulo had been with the team most of the season but became expendable when Dan Skipper returned to health (Skipper was signed to a futures deal on Monday). Ehinger was called upon a few times but with Evan Brown (a restricted free agent in 2022) starting at center in place of Frank Ragnow, as well as rookies Tommy Kraemer (Exclusive-rights free agent) and Ryan McCollum (ERFA) all safe bets to potentially return to the roster, Ehinger became overflow depth. Robey-Coleman was expected to take on a bigger role, but he often saw younger players get opportunities ahead of him—a strategy general manager Brad Holmes confirmed at his end-of-season press conference.

Currently, the Lions have 44 players under contract for 2022, but with decisions coming on their 17 exclusive rights free agents and six restricted free agents next up on the agenda, that total number could grow quickly.