It’s been really hard to notice that the Detroit Lions have been one player short on their 53-man roster since cutdowns last week. The Lions currently have 52 guys and it looks like they’re going to keep it that way for the better part of the week. Why? It’s all about flexibility according to Lions head coach Dan Campbell.
“I think it’s, yeah, it’s for the flexibility. Really it gives us flexibility to make a move if we need to. We need to add somebody. You know, there again, we’re going to have a pretty good idea within the next probably 48 hours exactly how we want to go into this game and who we want to go into the game with. And so that could have a little bearing on roster, practice squad, vet squad, that whole thing so it just it gives us a little bit of room.”
Room for exactly what position though? There’s some thought that maybe the Lions could add Tim Patrick or Allen Robinson to the 53-man roster to get that big X receiver on the field or maybe add a safety in place of Ifeatu Melifonwu, who is expected to miss this first game.
Neither of those spots appear to be where the move will come. It looks like the move could be on the Lions defensive line according to Campbell.
“I mean, we feel like we’re the best we’ve been in many years here, you know, with (Josh) Pascal and, you know, and obviously Mac (Alim McNeill) and Levi (Onwuzurkie) and our young bucks. You know, who we got. We feel like we have some options here, but, yeah, we’re not, listen, a move can be made here. I mean, we’re open to whatever that’s going to give us the best chance to have success. You’re going to need it against the Rams.”
A move could be made? What does that mean? Well it could mean that the Lions look to make a trade or sign someone, but that’s a lot less likely than what it really could mean. The Lions will likely look to add veteran Kyle Peko to their 53-man roster ahead of this game.
He’s someone that really earned the spot during the training camp and the Lions made sure to protect him by not playing him in any of the preseason games. There’s always a chance that he could maybe stay on the practice squad and get elevated early on, but with Brodric Martin being injured and DJ Reader not being fully ready to go yet, Peko just makes too much sense here.
That doesn’t mean we won’t see Patrick in this game. He’s likely to be one of the teams two practice squad elevations.