The Detroit Lions announced that they have signed tight end Alize Mack to a Reserve/Future contract.
Mack was one of the top high school tight end recruits in the country and enrolled at Notre Dame for his college playing days. His career in South Bend started out on a positive note during his freshman year, but after an academic suspension as a sophomore, he struggled once he was eligible to return.
Even though Mack has plenty of NFL potential — size (6-4, 250), fluidity, ball skills, and inline blocking skills — he is still lacking refinement in his technical skills and that led to him sliding to the seventh round on draft day.
Mack was selected with pick No. 231 overall in the 2019 draft by the Saints and got his first NFL experience learning under Lions coach Dan Campbell who was his position coach in New Orleans.
“I think the kid’s got a little bit of a chip on his shoulder in a good way,” Campbell told Mike Triplett of ESPN. “I think he probably felt like he should’ve gone higher. But I don’t feel like there’s somebody that came in that’s pouting or anything like that. I think he came in and had to go to work.”
After being released on cut day following 2019 training camp, Mack signed to the Saints’ practice squad but only lasted three weeks. He then spent a week on the Pittsburgh Steelers practice squad before finishing out the season on the Kansas City Chiefs practice squad. He was not in the league during the 2020 season.