Dan Campbell said the Detroit Lions were going to poach some help for their injury-riddled secondary off another team's practice squad, and on Tuesday, Sept. 22, the Lions did just that.
The Lions signed rookie safety Bishop Fitzgerald off the Pittsburgh Steelers practice squad and placed Avonte Maddox on injured reserve Tuesday.
Maddox will miss the rest of the season
with a foot injury he suffered in last week's loss to the Buffalo Bills.The Lions also released linebacker Joe Bachie (Michigan State).
Fitzgerald signed with the Tennessee Titans as an undrafted free agent and joined the Steelers after he was waived at the NFL's preseason roster cut deadline. He had 10 career interceptions – five at North Carolina State in 2023-24 and five at USC
last year, including two against Michigan on Oct. 11 in a 31-13 USC win.
The Lions struggled with personnel and blown assignments in their 41-31 loss to the Bills, and after the game cornerback D.J. Reed mentioned the team's revolving door at safety as one contributing factor to the sloppy performance.
"There’s so many different guys playing,” Reed told the Free Press after the game. “We have different packages, different guys so you got to know everybody plays different, everybody thinks differently. So it’s more of a challenge but we can do it, compared to Kerby’s been in the system for years, BB’s been in the system for years. You know how they play. When you have different safeties, everyone thinks different, everyone’s been in different systems, so it’s just a little different. But we’re going to get it fixed.”
Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch, the Lions' starting safeties, are on the physically unable to perform list with no clear timetable to return. Lions coach Dan Campbell has hinted in recent days that he's not sure if Joseph will play again.
Fitzgerald joins a safety room that includes Chuck Clark, Thomas Harper and Christian Izien. Clark has started the past two games.
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions sign ballhawk S Bishop Fitzgerald off Steelers practice squad
