The Detroit Lions were on a bye week last week. That’s why it was a little strange that on Thursday they did a practice squad elevation out of nowhere. The team signed undrafted rookie linebacker Trevor Nowaske to their 53-man roster.
We now know why they made that move, it’s because he was about to get poached by another team.
“Yeah, he was being poached potentially.” Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell said Monday. “We didn’t want to lose him. We felt like we had the flexibility to make that move. We feel like we’re gonna need him before it’s all said and done and we like where he’s going. He’s another young guy that we’ve got on this roster that’s really developing and growing. And it’s a good room right now. All seven of those guys counting him. It’s an outstanding room between what they’re able to do defensively but special teams too. We rely on them for a lot. So yeah, he was a guy that we didn’t want to lose.”
Nowaske really showed up near the end of camp and in the preseason. He was someone that many of us writers pegged as a guy that could make the Lions 53-man roster over special teams ace Anthony Pittman.
I wouldn’t expect to see much of Nowaske on the field with the defense this year, but you should see him on the special teams unit when he’s active on game day. This is a player to watch after the season. If I had to make a prediction, the Lions will probably look to lock him down with a futures deal and see what he can do for them in camp next year. Teams don’t always make moves like this to protect an undrafted rookie. They see something there.
It’s not known which team tried to poach Nowaske away at this time. If that information comes out, we will update this piece to reflect that.