Detroit Lions sign OL Bobby Hart, decide on long snapper

The Detroit Lions announced three roster moves on Monday, signing Bobby Hart for offensive line depth, releasing a long snapper Jake McQuaide, and waiving Tom Kennedy with an injury settlement.

Hart was drafted in the seventh round of the 2015 NFL draft by the New York Giants, and over his eight years in the league, he has played with four organizations: Giants, Bengals, Titans, and Bills. During that time he has played in 98 games, starting 67 mostly at right tackle—though he does have some game experience at guard and left tackle over the last two seasons.

The Lions have been waiting for their reserve offensive linemen to create separation for roles but none have been able to accomplish this through two weeks of training camp.

“You want somebody to separate themselves, that’s what we’re looking for is that next wave,” coach Dan Campbell said of the team's offensive line depth. “There’s a group of guys that, ‘Let’s go, somebody go take a job here.’ Somebody separate themselves from the other group and so there’s a lot of jockeying. I think they’re competing back there. And we’ve seen some good things out of all of them. [...] but you’re wanting to see somebody separate themselves, so no, not yet.”

Lions special teams coach Dave Fipp spoke with the media on Saturday and noted that while the team felt last year’s long snapper Scott Daly has progressed in his development in 2022, they were hoping to get more out of him by bringing in competition.

“Daly has done a good job since he’s been here, but last season I felt like personally, and him and I have talked about this, but I felt like personally he didn’t make the step forward that we wanted to see from him from the year before,” Fipp said. “We thought he got better, but he could get better at a faster rate and sometimes competition helps accelerate that process.”

Fipp also noted that former Pro Bowler, McQuaide had actually requested the Lions consider him as a competition option at long snapper and signed him to battle it out with Daly.

“(Mc)Quaide’s a guy who’s been—he’s done this for a long time,” Campbell said. “He’s been a high-level snapper and it was an opportunity to add a guy like him and then also to push Daly, let’s see where Daly can go and it hasn’t disappointed because really, I feel like Daly’s game is elevated. He’s gotten better. His speed of his snaps, location, getting out of his stance, and protection are—like it’s showing up.”

Daly has apparently shown enough improvement that the Lions are willing to move on from McQuaide and award the job to Daly.

The news of Kennedy being released with an injury settlement is an indication that he may be able to heal up at some point this season. By releasing Kennedy with an injury settlement, he will be required to sit out the predetermined length of his injury—over which he will be compensated by the Lions, similar to workman’s comp—but he will not be eligible to sign with another franchise during that period of time. Once that time frame has elapsed, Kennedy is free to sign with an NFL team but must wait an additional three weeks before he would be eligible to sign back with the Lions—like what happened with C.J. Moore in 2022.