Tag: Frank Herron

Detroit Lions elevate Mohamad Sanu and Frank Herron for Week 11

The Detroit Lions announced they have elevated Mohamad Sanu and Frank Herron from the practice squad to the active roster for their Week 11 game against the Carolina Panthers.

The Detroit Lions announced they have elevated Mohamad Sanu and Frank Herron from the practice squad to the active roster for their Week 11 game against the Carolina Panthers.

With injuries along the defensive line and at wide receiver, the Lions proactively protected Sanu and Herron earlier in the week in case they were needed — which is very much the case.

On Friday, the Lions declared starting wide receivers Kenny Golladay and Danny Amendola OUT with hip injuries. Marvin Jones will continue to start and Marvin Hall will start for Golladay for the second week in a row, while Jamal Agnew will likely replace Amendola, and Quintez Cephus will fill in at multiple spots. Beyond those four players, the receiver depth chart on the active roster is empty.

Enter Sanu, an eight-year veteran who spent the first four years of his NFL career working the field alongside Marvin Jones. Sanu will likely only be needed as a fifth receiver, and will likely only see a handful of snaps — barring injury — but he is a valuable option to be able to bring off the bench. Don’t expect big numbers from him this week, but he is more than capable of making an impact play or two.

Last week, with Nick Williams unable to play, Herron was called up to fill in at defensive tackle. Williams is healthy this week, but Da’Shawn Hand was downgraded to OUT today, so once again Herron was elevated to the active roster. Like last week, another 20 snaps could be in order.

This is the second time Herron has been elevated from the practice squad, meaning he has exhausted his opportunities for the remainder of the season. If the Lions need to lean on him again, they will need to sign him to the active roster — similarly to what happened with Isaac Nauta earlier this season.

Detroit Lions elevate OL Dan Skipper and DL Frank Herron for Week 10

With injuries on the offensive and defensive lines, the Detroit Lions have elevated OL Dan Skipper and DL Frank Herron for their Week 10 matchup with the Washington Football Team.

With injuries on the offensive and defensive lines, the Detroit Lions have elevated OL Dan Skipper and DL Frank Herron for their Week 10 matchup with the Washington Football Team.

On the offensive side of the ball, both RT/RG Hal Vaitai and IOL Joe Dahl are listed as questionable, and the Lions are leaning on Skipper to provide depth. With Skipper primarily being an offensive tackle, it could mean the Lions are a bit more worried about Vaitai’s availability, and observations from this week’s pool reporters from the Lions beat suggest those concerns may be warranted, as he has not done much in practice.

With Logan Stenberg also being a regular healthy scratch, the Lions could use an extra available offensive lineman so they can take advantage of the game-day roster expansion rule.

On the defensive side of the ball, DT Nick Williams missed practice on Wednesday, was limited on Thursday, then missed again on Friday, and is listed as questionable. Late week downgrades are typically bad news for Sunday, so Herron has a real shot at not only being active on Sunday but carving out a handful of snaps in the defensive line rotation.

Lions protect practice squad newcomer Mohamed Sanu, 3 others for Week 10

Sanu signed with the Lions late last week

Mohamed Sanu was on the street for anyone to sign for several weeks before the Detroit Lions signed the veteran wide receiver to the practice squad. Apparently the Lions like what they’ve seen from Sanu.

They made the wideout one of the four players protected on the practice squad for Week 10. Joining Sanu on the protected list are three familiar members: DT Frank Herron, CB Dee Virgin and OL Marcus Martin.

Martin was elevated for the Week 9 loss to the Minnesota Vikings and reverted to the practice squad on Monday. Virgin has been a fixture on the Lions’ protected practice squad all season.

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Establishing the 53: Rounding out the Lions’ DL

Examining the Detroit Lions defensive linemen and debating who and how many players they will keep on the 53-man roster.

It’s never too early to examine and speculate about the Detroit Lions roster. Currently, the Lions have 90-players on their roster, and come September, there will likely be some difficult decisions to make when determining their final 53-players.

Previously, in this series of articles at Lions Wire, we rounded out the running backs group, declared a winner in the fullback versus H-back competition, added an offensive weapon, narrowed down the offensive line, and in this piece, we will shift to the other side of the ball and focus on the Lions defensive line — projecting who and how many will make the 53-man roster.

Setting the table

The Lions defensive line primarily operates out of a three-man front, deploying a down defensive end (the DDE lines up on the offensive tackles outside shoulder, but will also shift inside to the 3-technique), a nose tackle (the NT splits time evenly between the 1- and 3-technique) and a defensive tackle (the DT lines up from the 3- to the 5-technique). In this set, the Lions will also line up a pass-rushing JACK linebacker opposite the DDE — for this exercise, the JACK will be discussed further in a linebacker article.

Because this is a hybrid front, the Lions will also operate with four defensive linemen, substituting a back-7 player (linebacker or defensive back) in favor of a big defensive end (BDE). The BDE will line up at the 7- or 9-technique (outside the tight end) in four-man fronts but will also rotate through at DT in three-man fronts.

For a frame of reference, last year the starters at these spots were:

  • DDE = Trey Flowers
  • NT = Damon Harrison
  • DT = A’Shawn Robinson
  • BDE = Da’Shawn Hand

Identifying starters

Despite losing two starters on the defensive line, the Lions front-four starters for 2020 are clear. Flowers will resume his role at DDE, Hand returns to his role at BDE/DT, while Harrison and Robinson were replaced in free agency by Danny Shelton at NT and Nick Williams at DT.

In three-man sets, expect Hand and Williams to rotate through the DT spot equally, regardless of who technically starts.

Erik’s take: You can write these four names in pen on your depth chart.

DDE reserve battle

After seeing over 53-percent of snaps last season, Romeo Okwara appears destined to resume the reserve DDE once again in 2020.

Jonathan Wynn runs third on the depth chart here but unless an injury happens the odds are against him. Add in the fact that JACK linebacker Austin Bryant can also flex to the DDE position and Wynn’s most optimistic outlook could be the practice squad.

Erik’s take: Okwara in, Wynn to the practice squad.

DT/BDE reserve battle

Last season the Lions kept four players at DT/BDE — Robinson (who has been replaced by Williams), Hand, Mike Daniels (who is still a free agent), and Kevin Strong. One of the reasons the Lions rolled with four players was due to Hand’s injury, but if he is healthy heading into this season, they may elect to keep only three players at this spot.

Strong returns to the roster, and as things sit right now, he appears to be the front runner for the third DT role. His primary competition will be seventh-rounder Jashon Cornell, a converted DE who shined last season at Ohio State after pushing inside to the 3-technique. Frank Herron, who was added to the Lions roster for the final month of the season, rounds out the group but he is staring at an uphill battle.

Erik’s take: Strong gets the nod in this projection, but he’ll be looking over his shoulder at Cornell who is headed to the practice squad. Herron is out.

NT reserve battle

Like at DT, this is another three-person battle between a returner, a draft pick, and a late addition to the roster.

After going undrafted in 2018, John Atkins has seen action each of the last two years, playing in 14 games and starting six down the stretch last season. His primary competition will be sixth-round pick John Penisini who has received a tremendous amount of praise for his upside in this type of NT role. Olive Sagapolu received a futures deal with the Lions last January, but like Herron, he lost his leverage once the Lions drafted a player at his position.

Erik’s take: Penisini is a perfect fit for this role and my gut feeling is he passes Atkins in the final weeks of the preseason, earning a spot on the 53. Atkins could push Strong for a deep reserve role but he’s more than likely headed to the practice squad. Sagapolu is out.

Conclusion

No real big surprises here, and while things can definitely shakeup during camp amongst the reserves, here’s where the depth chart stands in this projection:

  • DDE: Flowers, Okwara
  • NT: Shelton, Penisini
  • DT/BDE: Hand, Williams, Strong