Tag: Jarrad Davis

Giants place Shane Lemieux on IR, sign Jarrad Davis from Lions’ practice squad

The New York Giants have placed OL Shane Lemieux (toe) on IR, ending his season, and signed LB Jarrad Davis from the Lions’ practice squad.

New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll revealed on Wednesday that offensive lineman Shane Lemieux is headed to season-ending injured reserve.

The 25-year-old Lemieux missed the team’s first nine games after undergoing surgery to repair an injured toe during the preseason. He was activated for a Week 11 matchup with the Detroit Lions but reinjured his toe during that game.

The Giants had hoped to get Lemieux back this season but ultimately decided to pull the plug.

A fifth-round pick in the 2020 NFL draft, Lemieux has seen action in just two games over the past two seasons. He missed 16 games last year as the result of a knee injury.

Lemieux is in the third year of his four-year rookie contract.

In a corresponding roster move, the Giants have signed linebacker Jarrad Davis off of the Detroit Lions’ practice squad.

Davis, a first-round pick of the Lions in the 2017 NFL draft, has appeared in three games this season and recorded just three tackles. He spent last season with the New York Jets.

In 67 career games (50 starts), Davis has recorded 333 tackles (220 solo, 19 for a loss), 23 QB hits, 10.5 sacks, seven forced fumbles, 10 passes defended and one interception.

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Lions activate RB Craig Reynolds, waive WR Tom Kennedy

Lions activate RB Craig Reynolds, waive WR Tom Kennedy in series of Saturday roster moves

The Lions fleshed out the depth chart on Saturday with a series of roster moves. Detroit activated RB Craig Reynolds from injured reserve and waived WR Tom Kennedy.

Earlier on Saturday, the team had ruled out DL Michael Brockers with an illness and also downgraded RB Justin Jackson to questionable. That made activating Reynolds a likely move. Reynolds had been practicing for the last two weeks after being designated to return from IR.

Detroit also elevated LB Jarrad Davis and QB Joshua Dobbs from the practice squad for Sunday’s game against the Jets in New York.

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Lions sign C Ross Pierschbacher, place CB Chase Lucas on IR in series of roster moves

The Lions were busy making roster moves in advance of Sunday’s game against the Vikings

Saturday was a busy one in Allen Park as the Detroit Lions prepare for the Week 14 matchup with the Minnesota Vikings. The Lions made a series of roster moves related to injuries that have hit the team recently.

The Lions signed center Ross Pierschbacher off the practice squad to the active roster. With reserve OL Kayode Awosika out and right guard Evan Brown doubtful with injuries, Pierschbacher provides some much-needed depth to the 53-man roster.

To make room for Pierschbacher, Detroit placed rookie CB Chase Lucas on injured reserve. Lucas suffered a hamstring injury during practice on Thursday and was quickly ruled out for Sunday’s game in Ford Field. The move to IR almost certainly ends Lucas’ rookie campaign. He played just six total defensive snaps in six games on the season.

The Lions also elevated LB Jarrad Davis and CB Jarren Williams from the practice squad. Davis helps replace injured Derrick Barnes, who will miss the game with a knee issue. Williams will provide needed depth at CB, where Lucas is now gone and starting slot CB Will Harris is out for the Vikings game.

Presenting the Detroit Lions initial 2022 practice squad

The following players have been confirmed to sign on as the initial members of the Detroit Lions’ practice squad for the 2022 season.

The following players have been confirmed to sign on as the initial members of the Detroit Lions’ practice squad for the 2022 season.

Like all NFL teams, the Lions can carry up to 16 players on the practice squad. Up to four can be protected each week from signing to the active roster of another, though that protection does not go into effect until Tuesdays. Detroit signed 13 players who were with the team in the offseason to the initial practice squad.

A player can be promoted from the practice squad to the active roster on game days up to three times per season. After that, they must be signed to the active roster.

Lions pull the plug on veteran reclamation projects Jarrad Davis and Devin Funchess

The Lions tried veteran reclamation projects with Jarrad Davis and Devin Funchess but neither worked out

The first reports of the final wave of Detroit Lions roster cuts haven’t really featured any surprises. Two names on the early list, LB Jarrad Davis and TE Devin Funchess, do raise the eyebrows a bit.

Davis and Funchess were each veterans hoping to resuscitate their fledgling NFL careers in a city where they both have some history. Alas, the reclamation projects just were not meant to be.

While the moves are not official until Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET, multiple sources have reported and verified that both Davis and Funchess are no longer Lions.

It’s tough to see the Davis experiment end in failure. A perennial fan pinata in his first Lions stint (2017-2020), Davis willingly returned to Detroit determined to win over those same fans. He was an easy guy to root for, especially for those who got to see him behind the scenes. The Lions parted ways with a very good man and excellent teammate who unfortunately just wasn’t a good enough football player to help them at a position where most fans see the team’s biggest need.

Funchess had a real chance to pull off the conversion from wide receiver to tight end in Detroit, his hometown. He played well in the preseason opener, catching four passes and a touchdown. Unfortunately, Funchess could not prove the chronic durability issues–he’s been healthy for just one game since the start of the 2019 season–were behind him. He left the second practice of training camp and missed several days, also missing the second preseason game against the Colts. Availability is one ability that Funchess simply doesn’t have, unfortunately.

The Lions smartly realized that neither veteran reclamation project was going to work. Davis and Funchess were given chances to be this year’s Charles Harris, a former first-round flop who emerged as a quality starter in Detroit in 2021. It didn’t work for them or the team.

There’s no harm in trying these sorts of veteran ventures. The harm comes when sentimentality trumps football and it bumps out a player who offers more in both the short-term and long-term for the team. To the Lions credit, they didn’t let that happen.

Davis, who has battled injury issues of his own throughout his NFL career, could find another team interested in giving him one last shot. Moving him to full-time rush OLB, something the Lions toyed with this summer, just might work. In time. For Funchess, this could be the end of the NFL road. The reality of not being one of the four best TEs on a Lions team that had one established player at the position three months ago is not a positive sign.

 

Lions release 2017 1st-round pick, LB Jarrad Davis

The Detroit Lions have released linebacker Jarrad Davis, the No. 21 overall pick from the 2017 NFL draft

The Detroit Lions are releasing linebacker Jarrad Davis, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

The No. 21 overall pick in the 2017 NFL draft, Davis spent his first four years in the league with the Lions before signing with the New York Jets last offseason. Davis missed all of last year on injured reserve, and returned to Detroit back in March.

Davis, 27, has appeared in 64 career games with 50 starts, tallying 330 tackles, 10.5 sacks, seven forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries.

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10 Lions roster bubble players to watch vs. Colts

These are 10 Lions players who can really help–or hurt–themselves in the quest to make the final 53-man roster in the second preseason week.

After the first round of cuts, 85 players remain on the Detroit Lions as they enter the second week of preseason. The opportunities to impress are getting shorter with the week in Indianapolis for the Lions’ first road game of the exhibition season. For the players on the roster bubble, it’s rapidly approaching now-or-never time.

Saturday’s preseason game at Lucas Oil Field (1 p.m. ET) is the fiery crucible in which true winners are forged, but the coaching staff is also keenly watching the joint practices at the Colts training facility in Grant Park north of Indianapolis.

These are 10 Lions players who can really help–or hurt–themselves in the quest to make the final 53-man roster in the second preseason week.

Lions stock report after the 1st week of training camp

Which players have helped themselves in the first week of Lions training camp and which have not?

We’ve now had seven practice sessions and the mandatory day off at Detroit Lions training camp. Three days in pads and four with less contact have revealed some players moving up, with others fading a little in the depth chart quest.

Here are some of the players who have helped themselves the most, as well as some who haven’t started training camp as well as possible.

Breaking down the Lions free agent contracts with LBs Chris Board and Jarrad Davis

How much are Board and Davis getting and what does it say about the team’s expectations for each?

It’s been an offseason of selective signings by the Detroit Lions. To this point, Lions GM Brad Holmes and his staff have brought in just five outside free agents.

Two of those players, Chris Board and Jarrad Davis, play the same position: off-ball linebacker. The contract details of the two new LBs highlight the expectation level the team has for Board and Davis.

Board, formerly of the Ravens, signed a one-year deal for $1.99 million. His base salary is $1.5 million, of which $600,000 is fully guaranteed. There is also a $400,000 bonus and a per-game roster bonus that amortizes to the very odd total cap amount of $1,994,118. It would cost $1 million in dead cap room to cut Board.

Davis returns to Detroit after one year away with the New York Jets. He signed for one year as well at a rate of $1.035 million. None of that salary is guaranteed. Davis does have a roster bonus of $152,500 which raises the total salary cap hit to $1.047 million.

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Davis’ deal is essentially the league minimum for a player with five years of experience. There’s zero guaranteed money, which means zero dead cap room if the Lions dump him. It’s a bet-on-yourself tryout for Davis, the league’s lowest-graded linebacker by Pro Football Focus in 2021 (min. 200 snaps).

Board’s deal reflects much more of a commitment from Detroit. His salary is right in line with what the team paid another LB, Alex Anzalone, to return. Board and Anzalone play the same off-ball spot in the Lions’ base defense, the weakside “cover” or “chase” backer. Davis is more of the heavier or strongside backer, a starting position that (for now) belongs to second-year Derrick Barnes.

Based on the contracts, Board will be on the final roster. As of now, he and Anzalone project to compete (with Shaun Dion Hamilton and Josh Woods, both re-signed this offseason) for one starting spot. Board was a special teams standout for the Ravens and figures to be heavily deployed in coverage and return units, too. Keep in mind the base defense will only have two LBs on the field.

When the Lions use three LBs, both Board and Anzalone can play together with Barnes. Davis will need to earn reps backing up Barnes or in specific sub-packages that take advantage of his blitzing ability. He and Anzalone played together at Florida and do have some cross-trained skill-sets.

All contract information is from Over The Cap. 

Jarrad Davis returns to Lions after disappointing year with Jets

Jarrad Davis is back with the Lions one year after leaving Detroit for the Jets.

Jarrad Davis is going back to the team that originally drafted him after signing with the Lions, the team announced Friday.

Davis spent his first four NFL seasons in Detroit after being drafted 21st overall in 2017. But after he fell out of favor with former coach Matt Patricia and saw his production decline, Davis left the Lions to join the Jets on a one-year deal in 2021.

Unfortunately for Davis, his time in New York wasn’t much better. A preseason ankle injury forced him to miss the first six games of the season. Davis eventually lost his starting outside linebacker job to Quincy Williams. Davis only started five of the nine games he played in and finished 2021 with just 25 tackles over 208 total snaps.

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