Lions News – Page 88 – Syndication Server

Lions roster moves: Craig Reynolds re-signed, Julian Okwara to I.R.

The Lions re-sign RB Craig Reynolds and place EDGE Julian Okwara on I.R. following the roster cutdowns

The initial 53-man roster for the Detroit Lions only had two running backs on it. That lack of depth didn’t last long, as the team has re-signed RB Craig Reynolds to the active roster.

Reynolds was released on Tuesday at the roster cutdown deadline. The veteran reserve was not subject to waiver wire claims, which made him a good candidate to cut and then safely bring back once the waiver claims around the league were processed. This is a procedural maneuver that NFL teams are increasingly utilizing.

The corresponding move for signing Reynolds is another that was a calculated one by the Lions. Detroit placed EDGE Julian Okwara on injured reserve. Okwara left the preseason finale with an injury and did not return. He will miss at least the first four weeks.

Had the Lions placed Okwara on I.R. prior to the roster cutdown, he would have been out for the entire season. By doing this now, the fourth-year LB is eligible to be activated from I.R. after Week 4.

David Blough signs with the Lions practice squad

Blough is back where he spent 2019-2021 as a reserve QB

Welcome back to Detroit, David Blough!

The veteran quarterback is back in a Lions uniform after signing to the team’s practice squad on Thursday. Blough rejoins the Lions a year after he was cut from the team and opted to sign on the Minnesota Vikings practice squad.

It’s a reunion for the team’s backup quarterback from 2019-2021. Blough, now 28, started five games in Matthew Stafford’s absence at the end of the 2019 season, losing all five. He got two more starts for the Arizona Cardinals late in 2022 after that team signed him off the Vikings’ practice squad.

Blough fills the void for the No. 3 quarterback after the Lions placed Nate Sudfeld on injured reserve and waived rookie Adrian Martinez. Ironically, Sudfeld was signed a year ago to replace Blough. As someone who has an understanding of the Lions offense and familiarity with much of the receiving corps, bringing Blough back as a bridge to when third-round rookie Hendon Hooker is activated from the NFI list makes total sense.

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Lions signed DE Raymond Johnson III to the practice squad

The Detroit Lions have made another addition to their practice squad with the signing of DE Raymond Johnson III

The Detroit Lions have made another addition to their practice squad with the signing of edge Raymond Johnson III.

The news was first reported by Jay Morrison.

The Lions are signing DE Raymond Johnson III to their practice squad, per source.

Johnson led the Bengals in QB hits and pressures in the preseason and was tied for second in sacks and total tackles.

— Jay Morrison (@ByJayMorrison) August 31, 2023

Johnson spent the offseason with the Cincinnati Bengals, where he performed exceptionally well. Despite this, the Bengals released him, and it came as a surprise to many. During the preseason, he was the third-highest-ranked edge defender, according to PFF. Johnson was a UDFA who initially signed with the New York Giants, but he was eventually released and then signed with the Bengals last year.

The Bengals have a crowded edge group, which includes Joseph Ossai, Myles Murphy, Sam Hubbard, and Trey Hendrickson. Johnson faced tough competition, and it would have been challenging for him to make the roster. The Bengals had to make the difficult decision to let Johnson go. Their plan was to move him to the practice squad, but given his impressive preseason, it was going to be challenging.

The Lions decided to keep seven edge rushers on their initial 53-man roster, so it will be interesting to see if Johnson can earn a spot. Since the Lions did not have any edges on the practice squad, Johnson’s addition to the team will bolster their defense. With this signing, the Lions have four vacant spots left to fill for their practice squad.

Raymond Johnson III might just make this roster‼️

He’s really made a name for himself and came up big in clutch moments last night‼️#Bengals #WhoDey #RuleTheJungle pic.twitter.com/w0em7ncuSp

— GameOn513 (@gameonjmoney) August 27, 2023

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The Lions are still one of the NFL’s youngest teams

The Lions average player age has gone up but Detroit still fields one of the NFL’s youngest rosters

The third season of the Brad Holmes/Dan Campbell regime in Detroit sees the Lions maturing into a team most everyone expects to be a playoff squad in 2023. The maturity is starting to show in the average age of the team, too.

This year’s initial 53-man Lions roster carries an average age of 25.7 years old. Jimmy Kempski of the Philly Voice tabulates the average age of the 53-man rosters every year and quickly tallied up the ages of the NFL rosters after Tuesday’s final cutdown. Detroit’s 25.7 average age is tied for 10th-youngest with the Bears, Dolphins and Giants.

Last year, the Lions were the second-youngest team in the tabulation. The average age was 25.2 years old in 2022.

Detroit still doesn’t have a single defensive player over 30 years old, but the Lions did get more seasoned on the offensive side of the ball.

This year, the Green Bay Packers are the youngest at 25.0 average years, while the New Orleans Saints are the oldest with an average age of 27.4. As Kempski notes, there isn’t a correlation between average age and the success of the team.

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Lions add WR Daurice Fountain to the practice squad

The Lions add veteran WR Daurice Fountain to the practice squad

The Detroit Lions have added another wide receiver to the mix. The Lions have signed veteran wideout Daurice Fountain to one of the remaining practice squad vacancies.

The news was first reported by Jordan Schultz.

Fountain spent the offseason with the Chicago Bears, where he performed well in the preseason. The 27-year-old has been in the NFL since 2018, when he was a fifth-round pick by the Indianapolis Colts after a brilliant college career at Northern Iowa. He spent the 2022 season on the Kansas City Chiefs’ practice squad.

The 6-foot-2 Fountain has just two receptions in his NFL career, both with the Colts in 2020. He joins a Lions practice squad that also features WRs Maurice Alexander and Dylan Drummond.

Jerry Jacobs hints at a jersey number change

We might not see No. 39 anymore, but Jacobs isn’t going anywhere

For the last couple of seasons, No. 39 has been a mainstay in the Detroit Lions secondary. Jerry Jacobs quickly rose from undrafted rookie to starting outside cornerback, and he’s projected to start in Week 1 against Kansas City.

He might not be wearing the same jersey number, however.

Jacobs posted to X (formerly Twitter) a copy of a text that appears to indicate he got the okay from the Lions to change his jersey from 39 to 23.

2️⃣3️⃣!!!! pic.twitter.com/s3vlUMXgJU

— Jerry Jacobs (@_luhjerry) August 30, 2023

The No. 23 jersey belonged to fellow DB Saivion Smith, but Smith was waived with an injury. With the 23 up for grabs, Jacobs pounced on it like a hungry lion.

Detroit Lions practice squad tracker

The Lions are signing players to the practice squad to start the season. Here’s who has signed in Detroit.

With the 53-man active roster established, the Detroit Lions are now forming the 16-player practice squad for the start of the 2023 season.

All players who are not signed to another team are eligible for the practice squad, though there are limits on how many vested veterans can be on any practice squad.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell extolled the virtue and importance of the practice squad in his final press conference before the roster cutdowns.

“I understand it is, it’s a 53-man roster, but it’s really not. It’s a 60-man team. It’s a 69-man team is what it is, and that’s kind of how we view it. These guys are all on the same team. We all help each other out and every one of those guys, there’s a good chance they’re going to play for us,” Campbell said of the practice squad.

Knowing that context, here is who has signed with the Lions 16-man practice squad.

Chase Lucas, Michael Badgley among early Lions practice squad signings

The Lions practice squad is taking shape, starting with CB Chase Lucas and the return of K Michael Badgley

News and reports of the players signing to the Detroit Lions practice squad are starting to come in after the NFL’s waiver wire processing announcement. Two of the early names for the Lions practice squad are interesting ones.

Cornerback Chase Lucas is back after being waived. Lucas was a seventh-round pick in the 2022 NFL draft and showed considerable improvement and more positional versatility in his second training camp. He lost out in a numbers game in the Lions’ suddenly deep secondary.

The other name is a curious choice. Kicker Michael Badgley returns to Detroit on the practice squad. Cut by the Lions in late July, Badgley was subsequently signed — and then released — by Washington and Tennessee. He’s back where he was the Lions’ primary kicker in 2022, now behind Riley Patterson.

The Lions also signed undrafted rookie OT Connor Galvin back to the practice squad.

Lions land no waiver claims, lose CB Starling Thomas

The Detroit Lions failed to add any players via waivers after the roster cutdowns but lost CB Starling Thomas

Lions fans around the world anxiously awaited 12 p.m. ET on Wednesday afternoon to see what moves GM Brad Holmes might have made on the NFL waiver wire. All the waiver claims from the last few days of roster cuts were processed at that hour.

In terms of player additions, the excitement was for naught. The Lions did not have any successful waiver claims when the league’s official transaction report came out. That doesn’t necessarily mean the Lions didn’t place any waiver claims, but teams ahead of them in the waiver wire order landed any of those players. Detroit say 18th in the wire order.

The Lions did lose one player they waived. Undrafted rookie CB Starling Thomas was claimed by the Arizona Cardinals. Thomas is now added to the Cardinals’ active roster. The speedy UDFA from UAB was great on special teams throughout the preseason and had some moments in coverage, but also showed a major propensity for defensive holding and illegal contact penalties in both the preseason and training camp.