Discussion: What has been the Detroit Lions’ most surprising cut thus far?

The Detroit Lions have cut 19 players since their final preseason game, but still have a considerable way to go. Not including the inevitable movement of Jameson Williams to the suspended list and Hendon Hooker to the reserve/Non-Football Injury list, the Lions still have 16 more moves to make to get the roster down to 53 players by the 4 p.m. ET deadline on Tuesday.

But already, the Lions have made a few surprising moves. Training camp standout Dylan Drummond was reportedly told of his waiving on Monday, veteran offensive tackle Germain Ifedi was cut despite a decent preseason, and late on Monday night, cornerback Chase Lucas was informed of his waiving.

You can check out all of the other cuts in our tracker, but those three stand out as the most surprising and notable cuts so far.

So today’s Question of the Day is:

Which roster cut thus far has been the most surprising?

My answer: I don’t think there has been a truly shocking cut thus far, but I obviously had both Drummond and Lucas in my final 53-man roster prediction. Both of those players were certainly on the bubble, but Lucas was a player I had “OUT” in our Bubble Watch series until very late in the process.

Drummond, on the other hand, I thought had been one of the most consistent performers amongst the Lions’ receivers. Not only was he making plays on a daily basis in practice, but he had started to develop an intense work ethic—clearly impacted by guys like Amon-Ra St. Brown and Kalif Raymond. He had earned public praise and respect from both Dan Campbell and Jared Goff.

But in retrospect, even the Drummond cut can’t be considered too surprising of a cut. Let’s remember how his rise started: Drummond was not only passed over in all seven rounds of the 2023 NFL Draft, but no one even signed him as an undrafted free agent that weekend.

Drummond wasn’t truly on anyone’s radar, and the only way he made it on the Lions roster was because he was part of the local pro day, and he earned his spot during rookie minicamp as a tryout. Drummond didn’t wildly impress in the preseason; most of his successes were in training camp.

So unless one of the teams that came to Allen Park for joint practices became enamoured with Drummond (but both the Giants and Jaguars have fairly strong WR rooms), there’s a pretty good shot Drummond will pass through waivers unclaimed. And if that happens, I imagine the Lions will eagerly welcome him back to the practice squad. No harm. No foul.

What has been the most surprising cut to you thus far? Scroll down to the comment section and let us know!