2023 Lions roster cuts: Germain Ifedi among team’s first 13 cuts

The Detroit Lions announced on Sunday afternoon that they have cut ties with 13 players in their efforts to get down to 53 players by the 4 p.m. ET deadline on Tuesday.

The following players were waived—meaning they’re players with less than four years of experience who must face the waiver wire process, which begins following the Tuesday deadline:

• WR Trinity Benson
• WR Avery Davis
• TE Daniel Helm
• OT Obinna Eze
• C Alex Mollette
• OL Darrin Paulo
• CB Colby Richardson
• S Scott Nelson

The following players are vested veterans who were released and are now free agents clear to sign with whichever team they please:

• RB Devine Ozigbo
• WR Jason Moore
• OT Germain Ifedi
• G Bobby Hart
• DT Christian Covington

Among this entire group, the most notable name is Germain Ifedi. The former first-round pick was in a heated competition for the team’s third offensive tackle job with Matt Nelson. As recent as mid-August, coach Dan Campbell called the competition neck-and-neck:

“Nelson and Ifedi are just going back and forth,” Campbell said two weeks ago. “I thought Nelson’s had a pretty good camp, but I think Ifedi played pretty good in this game last week, and he’s played a lot in this league.”

This move seems to suggest that Nelson has won the job, and the Lions are not likely to keep a fourth offensive tackle.

The Lions are down to 76 players on the roster with 23 more cuts to go. You can follow along with all of the Lions roster cuts in our 2023 tracker.