While we’re all eager to get to the regular season, the Detroit Lions still have a final preseason game to play on Saturday afternoon against the Houston Texans, and it’s critical for at least a dozen Lions players. As coach Dan Campbell said earlier in the week, there are plenty of positional battles still in the air, and Saturday’s game will be a huge part of their final evaluations.
“It’s going to be really, really tough, but that’s part of the game. That’s part of this whole process. There again, the good news is there’s another practice today and there’s a game to where now you can separate,” Campbell said prior to Thursday’s joint practice. “I think we’ll get separation between these two in the next two days, in the next practice and game.”
With that in mind, here are 12 players who will be fighting for a roster spot during Saturday’s preseason finale.
QB Hendon Hooker
At this point, it seems very likely that Kyle Allen has won the backup job. Now it’s on Hooker to show that he’s still developing and improving, to justify keeping a third quarterback spot on the roster. It’s been a tough preseason for him thus far (16-of-29 for 117 yards, 0 TDS, 2 INTs, 2 fumbles lost), but he’s expected to start on Saturday, giving himself an opportunity to work with the primary reserves.
WR Dominic Lovett + WR Jackson Meeks
The Lions’ top five receivers are relatively safe in Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Kalif Raymond, Isaac TeSlaa, and Tim Patrick, but Lovett and Meeks are now in a battle for the WR6 spot… possibly even a seventh spot. Lovett and Meeks have separated themselves from the rest of the receiver depth, with Meeks really shining in the preseason. The undrafted rookie leads the team with 11 catches for 176 yards and two touchdowns. But Lovett provides depth at the slot position and has enough special teams upside to consider him a potential successor to Raymond.
iOL Kingsley Eguakun + iOL Michael Niese
The backup center battle has not gotten a ton of attention this offseason, but it could be a critical one, as we’ve seen from the mild panic following Graham Glasgow’s injury on Thursday (it appears he’s okay). Eguakun has had the upper edge, as he’s been the primary backup center since Tryston Colon went down with an injury. But I suspect Niese will get an opportunity at center to make one last good impression.
DL Keith Cooper Jr.
Cooper has been the biggest surprise of Lions training camp. He only found his way onto the roster after winning a spot during rookie minicamp tryouts. Since then, he’s been playing all over the Lions defensive line, and has even gotten a number of reps with the first-team defense.
However, the return of Mekhi Wingo from the Physically Unable to Perform list this week could complicate Cooper’s roster spot. Detroit likely would not have activated Wingo if they didn’t think he’d make the 53-man roster, so that means Cooper will have to justify his roster spot over someone likely at a different position. That said, the fact that Josh Paschal is now expected to start the season on the Non-Football Injury list could work in his temporary favor.
EDGE Nate Lynn + EDGE Isaac Uwku
The Paschal news combined with a serious injury to Ahmed Hassanein leaves Detroit wide-open at the EDGE4 position beyond Aidan Hutchinson, Marcus Davenport, and Al-Quadin Muhammad. Lynn and Ukwu appear to be the current leaders to claim that spot, although Mitchell Agude is certainly in the room, too. Lynn leads the group with seven pressures this preseason and an impressive 79.2 PFF pass rush grade, but Saturday will be an opportunity for the rest of the room to catch up.
CB Nick Whiteside
There’s one fewer roster spot available in the secondary after the return of Khalil Dorsey this week. While it’s no guarantee Dorsey makes the roster, the fact that he is already getting first-team gunner reps is a pretty solid indication he’s as close to a roster lock as you can get for a player just coming off an injury list.
As for Whiteside, he’s shown the most potential as a man-coverage cornerback among Detroit’s bubble players in the secondary. But does he have enough special teams skills to warrant a spot on the 53-man roster?
DB Erick Hallett
Hallett’s value is his versatility. This training camp alone, Hallett has played at outside cornerback, safety and nickelback. Detroit values versatility almost as much as they favor special teams players among their reserves, so Hallett would be a tough cut. But he’ll still need to show up on Saturday in every phase to make that strong final impression.
S Loren Strickland + S Ian Kennelly
Detroit is in an interesting position when it comes to safety. It appears they consider Rock Ya-Sin a full-time safety, and while Avonte Maddox is capable of dropping back there too, he’s mostly been at nickel all camp. So while Detroit is theoretically four players deep at safety, they could likely use a full-time player there, and that’s where Strickland and Kennelly come in.
Kennelly has had upper hand as of late, repping ahead of Strickland both on defense and special teams, but Strickland has a year of experience in this defense. Don’t be surprised if these two are your starters on Saturday, with both playing for a large majority of the game as they jockey for a roster spot.
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