The Detroit Lions roster bubble on defense is enormous. As of right now, we’ve got a total of 25 players fighting for a roster spot on the defensive side alone. And with the constant shifting due to injuries, strong play, or early struggles, our weekly predictions on who is in and who is out are fluctuating pretty drastically.
This week’s winners, however, were clear: Devin White and Nick Whiteside.
Let’s break down every position battle on defense with our Week 3 Bubble Watch picks:
Defensive end:
- Assumed in: Aidan Hutchinson, DJ Wonnum, Derrick Moore
- Ahmed Hassanein: 11 “IN” votes (up 1)
- Payton Turner: 0 votes (down 1)
- Anthony Lucas: 0 votes
The staff is now
completely aligned, with Ahmed Hassanein continuing his impressive camp, while Payton Turner remains sidelined with an injury. This is getting dangerously close to being settled completely at this point.
Defensive tackle:
- Assumed in: Alim McNeill, Tyleik Williams
- New to bubble watch: Levi Onwuzurike: 11 votes
- Tyler Lacy: 11 votes (no change)
- Skyle Gill-Howard: 10 votes (up 2)
- Chris Smith: 5 votes (up 1)
- Mekhi Wingo: 2 votes (down 4)
- Tyre West: 0 votes (no change)
- Aidan Keanaaina: 0 votes (no change)
This week, I brought down Levi Onwuzurike to the bubble after being an “assumed in.” Onwuzurike has been primarily repping with the second and third teams this training camp—well behind Alim McNeill (and even Mekhi Wingo) at the three-tech, and comfortably behind Tyler Lacy at the big end position. Despite all of that, we all still have him in, but I think his spot on the roster is up for grabs.
Elsewhere, Wingo drops a few votes, likely having to do with him missing a few days due to injury. However, he returned to practice on Monday (after votes were submitted), so this may have been a bit of an overreaction.
Still, Gill-Howard’s rise is warranted. He’s started to climb the depth chart—regularly getting reps with the first and second team—and has made a fair amount of plays, as well.
Linebacker:
- Assumed in: Jack Campbell, Derrick Barnes, Malcolm Rodriguez
- Devin White: 11 votes (up 5)
- Trevor Nowaske: 10 votes (no change)
- Damone Clark: 10 votes (no change)
- Jimmy Rolder: 0 votes (down 3)
- Troy Reeder: 2 votes (down 2)
- Erick Hunter: 0 votes (down 1)
- Joe Bachie: 0 votes (down 1)
After a pretty impressive first week of training camp, Devin White has jumped all the way to a unanimous vote. He’s been the clear top replacement for injured Malcolm Rodriguez in the starting lineup, and has consistently been making plays. It hasn’t been perfect—play-action has gotten him several times—but he looks comfortable in a starting role.
Meanwhile, it appears our staff is now convinced Rolder will start the season on injured reserve after suffering an injury a couple weeks back.
And while Erick Hunter lost his one vote from last week, I will say that in these past few practices, he’s starting to make some noise, and it wouldn’t shock me if he replaced one of the veteran special teamers we currently have in—especially as Damone Clark continues to miss time with an injury.
Cornerback:
- Assumed in: DJ Reed, Rock Ya-Sin, Ennis Rakestraw, Keith Abney
- Nick Whiteside: 11 votes (up 5)
- Khalil Dorsey: 10 votes (up 2)
- New to bubble watch: Roger McCreary: 5 votes
Let’s start with Whiteside, whose meteoric rise has been one of the biggest surprises of training camp. He started Bubble Watch with just one vote, but after a strong opening week to training camp, he got promoted to starting reps with D.J. Reed sidelined. He’s clearly jumped Ennis Rakestraw on the depth chart, making it tempting to drop the Lions’ 2024 second-round pick onto the roster bubble… but I’m not there yet.
I did, however, drop veteran Roger McCreary down to the roster bubble. While McCreary has been getting a fair share of first-team nickel reps, coach Dan Campbell accurately called his camp thus far “up and down.” With only $800,000 in guaranteed salary, it’s fair to wonder if Whiteside’s rise means McCreary’s fall. After all, Detroit has several other options at nickel, including Christian Izien, Avonte Maddox, and Rakestraw.
Dorsey continues to dominate on special teams. In my opinion, it’s not even a question that he’s the best special teamer on the roster.
Safety
- Assumed in: Christian Izien, Avonte Maddox (NEW), Chuck Clark (NEW)
- Thomas Harper: 11 votes (no change)
- Brian Branch: 3 votes (down 1)
- Kerby Joseph: 0 votes (down 4)
- Dan Jackson: 0 votes (down 1)
- Loren Strickland: 0 votes (no change)
First off, we’ve moved Avonte Maddox and Chuck Clark off the bubble and onto the “assumed in” category, because both had taken essentially every starting snap of training camp until Maddox’s absence on Monday. More and more, they not only look safe, but the likely Week 1 starters.
The other shifts involve both Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph. Despite some optimism surrounding Branch—including his first on-field work with trainers—most of the staff believes he will start the season on PUP. Now everyone believes Joseph is headed for that fate after he’s been neither seen nor heard from in the past week. After some vigorous training in the first week, it’s been all silent on that front.
Personally speaking, I believe the best argument for keeping both on PUP to start the season is a new rule implemented this year. Players who begin the season on PUP are now allowed to return to practice after just two weeks instead of four. They still can’t play in the first four games, but it gives those players an opportunity to ramp up and be ready by Week 5. That seems like a reasonable goal for both Branch and Joseph, and it’s a good way to preserve roster spots early in the season.
