With the final preseason game in the books, it’s decision time for the Detroit Lions. For months, players have made their case for the 53-man roster both on and off the field, and by 6 p.m. ET on Sunday, the Lions must make those final decisions.
On Saturday night, our staff made those same tough decisions. As we’ve been doing all training camp, we made our predictions for which Lions players on the roster bubble are IN the roster, and who is OUT.
Here are our choices for the offense and a full explanation
for each position below. And if you want to see full 53-man roster predictions, you can see them here:
- Final Detroit Lions 53-man roster prediction: Erik Schlitt
- Final Detroit Lions 53-man roster prediction: Jeremy Reisman
Quarterback:
- Assumed in: Jared Goff
- Josh Dobbs: 11 “IN votes (up 5)
- Luke Altmyer: 1 vote (down 4)
Josh Dobbs’ nearly perfect performance in the preseason finale—15-of-19 for 128 yards, 2 TDs, 129.8 passer rating—was enough to make him a unanimous “IN” among our staff. While this battle was certainly back and forth, in the end, he avoided the negative plays, while Luke Altmyer had two turnovers (though one wasn’t really his fault).
Brett Whitefield was able to fit both quarterbacks on the roster, and I think that does speak to Altmyer’s relatively strong August. In my opinion, he still very much deserves 53-man roster consideration, and I’m willing to bet everyone on staff who had him out hopes he returns to the practice squad to continue his development and build on a relatively strong foundation.
Running back:
- Assumed in: Jahmyr Gibbs, Isiah Pacheco
- Sione Vaki: 11 votes (no change)
- Jacob Saylors: 11 votes (no change)
- Jabari Small: 0 votes
Once again, I considered adding Trayveon Williams to the bubble and bringing down Isiah Pacheco, given his current unknown injury status. But with no clear timeline on Pacheco, I’d rather not assume the worst. After all, Campbell said he was improving this week.
Jacob Saylors proved beyond any doubt that he has earned a spot on the roster, while Jabari Small suffered yet another preseason injury.
Wide receiver:
- Assumed in: Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Isaac TeSlaa, Greg Dortch
- Off bubble watch: Cedrick Wilson (IR)
- Tay Martin: 11 votes (up 3)
- Dominic Lovett: 0 votes (down 1)
- Tom Kennedy: 0 votes (no change)
- New to bubble watch: Lucky Jackson (0 votes)
Lucky Jackson takes Cedrick Wilson’s place on the roster bubble thanks to an outstanding preseason finale from the veteran receiver. That said, he wasn’t able to garner a single vote from our staff. Instead, we’re all sticking with Tay Martin as Detroit’s WR5, and no one opted to keep a sixth.
Martin has been steady all preseason, contributes regularly on special teams, and added a touchdown and third-down conversion against the Colts on Saturday.
Tight end:
- Assumed in: Sam LaPorta, Brock Wright
- Tyler Conklin: 11 “IN” votes (no change)
- Jackson Meeks: 9 votes (no change)
- Thomas Gordon: 0 votes (no change)
Meeks had another fairly strong outing in the preseason finale, but he didn’t seem to change anyone’s mind on the staff. He’s very much one of the last players in or out depending on your perspective, but kudos to him for making it a serious conversation despite still very much learning the nuances of the tight end position.
Offensive tackle:
- Assumed in: Penei Sewell, Blake Miller, Larry Borom
- Colby Sorsdal: 0 votes (no change)
- Devin Cochran: 0 votes (no change)
It would be a pretty big shock if the Lions’ offensive tackle room looked any different than this. The entire Lions offensive line looked strong against the Colts, so it’s possible someone like Devin Cochran gets consideration, but that feels much more likely to be a practice squad add.
Interior offensive line:
- Assumed in: Tate Ratledge, Christian Mahogany, Miles Frazier
- Assumed on IR: Cade Mays
- Juice Scruggs: 11 votes (no change)
- Ben Bartch: 11 votes (up 1)
- Seth McLaughlin: 5 votes (down 3)
- Michael Niese: 0 votes (no change)
- New to bubble watch: Mason Miller: 0 votes
Scruggs is a lock as the Week 1 starter, and Ben Bartch—who was initially considered a serious contender for the starting left guard job—likely has secured a job by simply remaining healthy for over a week. He, too, was strong in the preseason finale.
The question now is simply whether the Lions will keep a ninth offensive lineman and who that will be. The staff is currently split evenly, with Seth McLaughlin being the only reserve to garner an OL9 vote—he got five. That said, I do wonder if the Lions will consider Mason Miller after the week he had. With no center experience, he backfilled for McLaughlin (who was in concussion protocol), and besides an understandable snap exchange issue or two, was pretty remarkable.
“I was proud of Mason Miller,” Campbell said after the game. “He has not played at center […] but we worked him all week at center, we were going to give him the start, and minus the—we had one quarterback, center exchange (issue)—man, I thought he played pretty dang clean. He was firing off the ball.”
That late performance was not enough to get a vote from our staff, but you better believe he is someone Detroit is at least considering for the practice squad.
