The Detroit Lions enter their final preseason game with likely most of their roster spots decided, but one that may still be up in the air is the backup quarterback job.
Entering training camp, there likely wasn’t going to be much drama at the position. However, Teddy Bridgewater’s abrupt retirement midway through camp forced the Lions to pivot. While undrafted rookie Luke Altmyer has been with the team all offseason, suddenly thrusting a 23-year-old into the backup position wasn’t something the Lions were
willing to do unopposed. So they quickly added nine-year veteran Josh Dobbs to the room.
But thus far in camp, Altmyer has continued to get the bulk of the backup reps. And what seemed like a far-fetched approach—letting Altmyer be the backup to veteran Jared Goff—now seems closer to reality than ever.
On Thursday, Lions coach Dan Campbell asked what he needs to see from Altmyer to have the confidence that he can handle such a critical role.
“Consistency. Just play good smart football,” Campbell said. “We don’t need some wild throws, whatever. Be able to run the offense, be efficient, make smart decisions, even if that means that you’re punting the ball. That’ll be the most important thing. We don’t want the wild plays and then there’s an ill-advised throw across the middle for an intercept—those won’t get it done. So just be smart, take what’s there, run the offense and that’ll go a long way.”
It hardly seems like a coincidence that Campbell would bring up the example of an ill-advised pass over the middle that was intercepted. That could be fresh in his mind because Altmyer’s competition, Josh Dobbs, did exactly that in the team’s second preseason game last week.
But under Dan Campbell, the Lions have seemingly preferred to have a veteran set of eyes behind Goff. Be it Bridgewater, David Blough, or Kyle Allen, the Lions almost always wanted a seasoned player among the quarterback reserves, with the lone exception being 2024 (Hendon Hooker, Jake Fromm).
Campbell admitted they prefer to have experienced players at quarterback, but that won’t trump overall talent when it comes to cut-down day.
“I mean, you would like that because those guys have played, there are real reps. They’ve been under real fire in real football games and that is important. But that’s not the end all be all, either,” Campbell said. “If you think there’s somebody to work with here and that he’s shown enough progress and he’s only going to get better, then we don’t close our eyes to that either.”
Further complicating the Lions’ decision is the amount of roster gymnastics they could try to perform to keep both players around. Because Dobbs is a veteran, the Lions could opt to cut him, not subject him to waivers, and bring him back later either on the practice squad or 53-man roster. But at the same time, how likely is it that Altmyer would get claimed on waivers if Detroit opted to cut him? Last year, there were only 27 total waiver claims after initial NFL roster cuts, and just one of them (Tommy Devito) was a quarterback. So the Lions could keep Dobbs on the roster, and bring back Altmyer assuming he clears waivers.
Regardless, the Lions won’t make that decision until after Saturday’s preseason finale against the Indianapolis Colts. It’s unclear how the Lions will share the load between Altmyer and Dobbs on gameday, but their performance could be the tipping point for a difficult decision.
