The Detroit Lions roster cuts are set to start at any moment. But before the team gets to their initial 53-man roster for the 2025 season, our staff made their final predictions for the players on the roster bubble.
Before we get into our final predictions, I think it’s always fun to look back just six weeks ago and see how different our predictions were then. You can see our Week 1 Bubble Watch selections here.
Now onto our final predictions for the Lions’ 2025 53-man roster on offense.
Quarterback:
- Assumed in: Jared Goff
- Kyle Allen: 11 “IN” votes (no change)
- Hendon Hooker: 0 votes (no change)
It’s no surprise that our entire staff has opted to keep only two quarterbacks. Coach Dan Campbell more or less said that Kyle Allen won the backup job, and when asked about the decision regarding Hendon Hooker’s spot on the roster, he didn’t exactly sound like keeping a QB3 was on his mind:
“How much development do you believe there still is? Sometimes does the player need a change of scenery? What about our own depth in other areas? I mentioned this the other day, relative to that – all right, maybe there is room to grow. Is that worth it for the depth we need at O-Line, D-Line, receiver, DB?”
Yeesh.
Running back:
- Assumed in: Jahmyr Gibbs, David Montgomery, Craig Reynolds, Sione Vaki
Despite a strong preseason, Jacob Saylors never made it onto our Bubble Watch series. I do believe he is a candidate to make the practice squad.
Wide receiver:
- Assumed in: Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Kalif Raymond, Isaac TeSlaa
- Tim Patrick (11 votes)
- Jackson Meeks: 10 votes (up 2)
- Dominic Lovett: 5 votes (down 1)
- Ronnie Bell: 0 votes (no change)
- Tom Kennedy: 0 votes (no change)
- Jakobie Keeney-James: 0 votes (no change)
Neither Meeks nor Lovett did much in the preseason finale to make a good final impression, but it appears that things have been trending in Meeks’ direction for the past few weeks. And with other roster bubble players not impressing against the Texans, it appears our staff was more willing to keep seven receivers. Four of our 11 voters had Detroit keeping the extra wideout, while everyone has them keeping at least six.
Tight end:
- Assumed in: Sam LaPorta, Brock Wright
- Shane Zylstra: 11 votes (up 1)
- Zach Horton: 1 votes (down 1)
Zylstra is now a unanimous in after playing sparingly in the preseason finale. Interestingly, Max Gerber has them keeping four tight ends, which is certainly a possibility if they like Horton’s ability to play fullback. It’s not an option we’ve discussed much this preseason, but Horton can also contribute on special teams, so I’m not counting it out.
Offensive tackle:
- Assumed in: Taylor Decker, Penei Sewell, Giovanni Manu
- Dan Skipper: 11 votes (no change)
- Jamarco Jones: 0 votes (no change)
This situation hasn’t changed much in the past few weeks, as it has looked like Skipper has had a stranglehold on the OT3 position for a while. Jamarco Jones had been making some noise, but after another injury appears to have sidelined him for the preseason finale, it’s getting hard to trust him. I suppose there’s also an outside chance the Lions cut ties with Manu, but that never seemed particularly likely given his positive progression from last year.
Interior offensive line:
- Assumed in: Graham Glasgow, Tate Ratledge, Christian Mahogany
- Kayode Awosika: 11 votes (no change)
- Kingsley Eguakun: 11 votes (up 1)
- Trystan Colon: 0 votes (no change)
- Miles Frazier: 0 votes (no change)
- Netane Muti: 0 votes (no change)
- Michael Niese: 0 votes (no change)
Our entire staff is locked into the same nine offensive linemen making the team. I wouldn’t rule out someone like Netane Muti for a 10th spot or even overtaking Awosika, but it certainly does feel like the nine we’ve selected are relatively safe.
Someone to keep an eye on, though, is Trystan Colon. His elbow injury looked like it was going to sideline him for a long time, but he hasn’t been placed on IR yet, and he was even getting some work in with trainers during the Lions’ final practice. I still think short-term IR is the most likely option, but he’s got an outside chance to make the roster, as he was trending towards challenging Eguakun for the backup center job prior to his injury.
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