Tag: Chris Smith

Lions bring back DL to the practice squad

Lions bring back rookie DL Chris Smith to the practice squad

As the Lions nation anxiously awaits word on the fate of EDGE James Houston, the team did make a roster move involving the defense on Wednesday. The team announced it has brought rookie DT Chris Smith back to the practice squad.

It’s the third stint on the practice squad in Detroit for Smith. He joined the team as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Notre Dame. Smith showed some ability as an undersized (he’s 290 pounds) interior rusher during training camp. He never signed with any other NFL team after being released from the Lions practice squad twice during the season.

The Lions had an opening on the practice squad after last weekend’s roster moves. Detroit will determine the fate of Houston on Thursday; the pass rusher’s activation window from injured reserve ends on that day. The Lions must either activate him to the 53-man roster or else Houston’s season is over.

Lions waive freshly activated FB Jason Cabinda in a series of roster moves

Cabinda was activated from I.R. and then waived in a span of 24 hours

It’s been a weird 24 hours with the Detroit Lions on the NFL’s transaction wire. After making some moves on Thursday, primarily activating FB Jason Caibnda from the injured reserve, GM Brad Holmes and the Lions were busy on Friday.

Cabinda was waived on Friday in a surprising maneuver. Waiving Cabinda means he will not be eligible to rejoin the team in time for Saturday night’s game in Dallas.

Taking Cabinda’s spot on the 53-man roster is kicker Michael Badgley. That move was expected, with Badgley facing the final practice squad elevation for 2023 after being elevated the last two weeks. Detroit still has one other opening on the 53-man roster.

Also, the Lions shuffled the practice squad. The team released DL Chris Smith and brought back OL Michael Schofield to the practice squad.

Waiving Cabinda could be a move designed to protect other players at the bottom of the roster whom the Lions wish to keep. It’s unlikely any other team will claim Cabinda for a couple of reasons. First, few teams utilize a straight fullback like Cabinda; most already have their FB or use a hybrid TE or extra OL in the role, if needed. Secondly, Cabinda is coming off an injury and has bene sight unseen for any team that might be interested.

Arkansas football announces plans to honor Chris Smith, Ryan Mallett and Alex Collins

Hunter Yurachek shared how Arkansas plans to honor Chris Smith, Ryan Mallett and Alex Collins this season.

After the tragic passings of Chris Smith, Ryan Mallett and Alex Collins over the summer, Arkansas fans have shared numerous tributes for the three legendary players.

Fans have also offered countless ideas for how the football team could honor each this season. Today, Hunter Yurachek shared one way the school plans to remember Mallett and Collins, and how Smith will be honored later this year.

In a tweet, Yurachek shared that Collins and Mallett’s initials will be painted on the sidelines for every home game this year. The initials “AC” will be featured on the 3-yard line at each end of the field and the initials “RM” will be on the 15-yard line. The yard line coinciding with the jersey number that each player wore while at Arkansas.

Following the tweet, many fans asked what the school planned to do to honor Chris Smith. Yurachek announced shortly after that Smith’s family will serve as honorary captains later this November when the Razorbacks host Auburn in Fayetteville.

Saturday will mark Arkansas’ first true home game of the season. The Razorbacks will kickoff against Kent State at 3:00 p.m. and it will be televised on SEC Network.

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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.

Predicting the 22 remaining Detroit Lions roster cutdowns

The Detroit Lions have 75 players on the active roster as of noon Monday and have to be down to 53 by 4 p.m. Tuesday

It’s almost time for the Detroit Lions initial 53-man roster to be set for the 2023 regular season. The team has already trimmed several players from the 90-man preseason limit, but there are more cutdowns to be made.

As of 12 p.m. ET on Monday, the Lions have 75 players still on the active roster. That leaves 22 more players to be removed from the active roster before 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

Note that CB Emmanuel Moseley and QB Hendon Hooker are not currently on the active roster, so they don’t factor in. WR Jameson Williams begins serving his suspension after the cutdowns, so he’s not involved either. 

50 days until Browns season opener: 5 players to wear 50 in Cleveland

The countdown has reached the last of the 50’s with just 50 days remaining

The Cleveland Browns have traveled to the Greenbrier in West Virginia for training camp to begin with 50 days remaining before the start of the season. In team history, there have been a total of 29 different players to wear the number 50. The first to wear it was John Yonakor who wore it from 1946 until the end of the 1949 season. The number is currently worn by linebacker Jacob Phillips who has worn it for the last three seasons since he was drafted in the third round.

It will be interesting to see if Phillips can make the 53-man roster after a really bad season in 2022 before injury cut the season short.

Seahawks announce 4 roster moves ahead of latest OTAs practice

The Seattle Seahawks announced a few roster moves before today’s practice started at the VMAC in Renton.

The Seattle Seahawks announced a few roster moves before today’s practice started at the VMAC in Renton.

Here’s a quick review of the team’s transactions.

Lions OTA notebook: June 1st observations on Gibbs, Goff, Jamo, kickers and more

Here are some quick notes and observations from the Detroit Lions June 1st OTA session

The Lions held the second session of OTAs open to the media on a sunny, hot Thursday afternoon to kick off June. It’s still non-contact and voluntary, so drawing any conclusions from what we saw is way too hasty, but there were a few interesting developments from the practice fields in Allen Park.

Here are some quick notes and observations from the unpadded practice session that leads into next week’s mandatory minicamp.

Lions UDFA profile: Notre Dame DT Chris Smith

Breaking down Lions UDFA DT Chris Smith from Notre Dame (and Harvard) and what he offers to Detroit

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The Lions dipped deep into the depth pool to sign defensive tackle Chris Smith as an undrafted free agent in 2023. Smith wasn’t even a starter at Notre Dame in his final season after transferring from Harvard.

A quick perusal of his Fighting Irish game film demonstrates what the Lions saw in Smith. The Detroit-area native (Cranbrook Kingswood HS) is an active presence on the interior. Smith is quick off the snap and keeps his feet clean and chopping through the initial engagement with the blocker. In the one Notre Dame game I attended (Stanford), Smith used his initial quickness and ability to shed blocks well; he had an impressive TFL and forced a fumble.

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His best quality is his ability to finish under control and with power. Notre Dame didn’t log him for a single missed tackle, and in his three seasons at Harvard the Crimson had Smith for just one missed tackle. He wraps well and uses his reach to corral ball carriers and occasionally the opposing QB (5.5 sacks in 42 career college games).

For a 301-pounder (listed weight), Smith isn’t much of an interior anchor. He plays more in the gaps, aligning as a shaded nose, and his goal seems to be to get free to make plays instead of gumming up the works. At Harvard, Smith moved around the interior more and was tasked with being the attack tackle, which he did quite well in 2021.

When he doesn’t get free, Smith doesn’t have the base strength to hold up against good blockers. He also doesn’t offer much creativity as a pass rusher other than the occasional swim move. His bull rush was sometimes effective against interior OL with poor pad level.

He strikes me as a bigger, less twitchy version of one of Detroit’s UDFAs from a year ago, Demetrius Taylor. Smith will need to either be more productive on the interior or improve his anchoring and base strength if he’s to make it for the full year with the Lions’ practice squad.

NFL pays tribute to DE Chris Smith

NFL Films compiles a tribute in honor of Chris Smith

The Cleveland Browns lost a former teammate yesterday as defensive end Chris Smith passed away. Spending the 2018 and 2019 seasons with the Browns, he was known as a soft-spoken leader in the locker room. Today, NFL Films has released a tribute to Smith as they cut together archives from their production.

Our hearts continue to go out to the family of Smith during this time.

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