Every week, we are tracking the Detroit Lions players on the roster bubble, and offering our predictions for who is in and who is out.
The Lions defensive roster bubble continues to grow with questions about injuries and a ton of moving parts in the secondary. Some situations are becoming a little clearer, while others only seem to be getting more confusing.
Here are the Pride of Detroit’s staffs current predictions about the players on the defensive roster bubble. We’ll break down each position below
the chart to explain why the shifts in the depth chart.
Defensive end:
- Assumed in: Aidan Hutchinson, DJ Wonnum, Derrick Moore
- Ahmed Hassanein: 10 “IN” votes (up 7)
- Payton Turner: 1 votes (down 5)
- Anthony Lucas: 0 votes
Arise, Ahmed Hassanein believers. The love for Hassanein’s attitude and potential have come together this camp for a very, very strong early performance for the second-year edge defender. He’s making plays on special teams, and has worked his way up to consistent second-team defensive reps. This can’t be a bad look, either:
And with Payton Turner struggling to shake his reputation as injury prone, this decision is starting to look easier and easier.
Defensive tackle:
- Assumed in: Alim McNeill, Tyleik Williams, Levi Onwuzurike
- OFF BUBBLE WATCH: Jay Tufele (cut)
- Tyler Lacy: 11 “IN” votes (no change)
- Skyle Gill-Howard: 8 votes (down 1)
- Mekhi Wingo: 6 votes (up 3)
- Chris Smith: 4 vote (up 3)
- Tyre West: 0 votes (no change)
- Aidan Keanaaina: 0 votes (no change)
Most of the movement here is in regards to the nose tackle position. Essentially, all of Jay Tufele’s votes prior to the start of training camp shifted to Chris Smith and Mekhi Wingo. Smith looks like the next guy up at nose tackle, but hasn’t stuck out early in camp. Wingo, however, continues to rep with the first and second team defenses when Alim McNeill needs a break. The fact that he is repping ahead of a guy like Levi Onwuzurike is notable, but we’re not yet ready to put Onwuzurike on the roster bubble.
Linebacker:
- Assumed in: Jack Campbell, Derrick Barnes, Malcolm Rodriguez
- NEW TO ROSTER BUBBLE: Jimmy Rolder (injury)
- NEW TO ROSTER BUBBLE: Joe Bachie
- NEW TO ROSTER BUBBLE: Devin White (signed)
- Trevor Nowaske: 10 “IN” votes (up 1)
- Damone Clark: 10 votes (up 1)
- Devin White: 6 votes
- Troy Reeder: 4 votes (up 4)
- Jimmy Rolder: 3 votes
- Erick Hunter: 1 vote (no change)
The Jimmy Rolder injury has caused some massive shifts here. Campbell said the injury wasn’t significant, but he’ll be out for “a while.” Seems like the most likely scenario is he goes on injured reserve when the cutdowns start, meaning he’ll be OUT and miss at least the first four games. Still, three staffers are holding out hope he avoids IR.
Rolder’s votes from last week have been spread across the room, with newly signed Devin White getting the biggest jump. About half of the staff thinks he’s in, but Troy Reeder and Damone Clark have a little more belief, as well.
Cornerback:
- Assumed in: DJ Reed, Rock Ya-Sin, Ennis Rakestraw, Roger McCreary, Keith Abney
- Khalil Dorsey: 8 “IN” votes (down 2)
- Nick Whiteside: 6 votes (up 5)
I’m dangerously close to putting Roger McCreary on the roster bubble due to the rise in Nick Whiteside. Whiteside’s play has been undeniable, but it’s really challenging to find a way to put him on the roster. Reed, Ya-Sin, Rakestraw, and Abney all feel pretty safe. Khalil Dorsey may be the best special teamer on the roster, which makes it hard to put Whiteside above him.
Meanwhile, McCreary is on a one-year, minimum salary contract with just $800,000 guaranteed. I’ve still got him as an assumed in, but with the growing support around Whiteside, I think next week we may need to pull him down to the bubble.
As Dan Campbell said on Monday, the cornerback room is about to get interesting.
Safety
- Assumed in: Christian Izien
- NEW TO BUBBLE WATCH: Kerby Joseph
- NEW TO BUBBLE WATCH: Brian Branch
- Avonte Maddox: 11 “IN” votes (no change)
- Thomas Harper: 11 votes (no change)
- Chuck Clark: 11 votes (no change)
- Kerby Joseph: 4 votes
- Brian Branch: 4 votes
- Dan Jackson: 1 vote (up 1)
- Loren Strickland: 0 votes (no change)
We are no longer assuming that Kerby Joseph is “IN” nor that Brian Branch is “OUT.” Dan Campbell dropped the bombshell last week that Branch could return to the practice field as early as the end of training camp, which would lead to him avoiding the PUP to start the season. But Campbell also said that they are not expecting Joseph to be ready by Week 1, which was just as big of a surprise. Detroit is going to face a very difficult decision with both players on whether they should start the season on PUP, and as you can see, the POD staff is split on what they’re going to do.
Oddly, that hasn’t changed much about the rest of the room, as staffer have used the extra votes elsewhere on the roster.
That said, Clark and Maddox are getting very close to moving off the roster bubble. Given that they’ve taken nearly every first-team rep in camp, it seems unlikely Detroit will change course. But we’ll see as camp continues.
