Detroit Lions camp quandary 2019: Sorting out the bubble players

The Detroit Lions preseason is still a ways away but it’s not too early to look at what intriguing players may fill in some of the last spots on the roster.

Waiting on Training Camp to start is a test of every Detroit Lions fan’s will. From the Draft until minicamp there are quite a few things to discuss but after minicamp not many moves take place. So this installment of Kick In the Crotch Weekly will focus on the what players will likely be the focus of the toughest decisions facing the team trying to get down to the fifty-three man roster.

There are about forty-five slots of that final number that are already spoken for.  We’re going to focus on who we would keep to round out the roster. That means that the actual players that will be kept will likely be different but we should be close.

If we look at any place that has fairly up to date information on what the Detroit Lions depth chart looks like, Ourlads.com for example, we can see some of the depth that has been built by the general manager, Bob Quinn, since he started his job in 2016.

Let’s get to choosing our bubble players that should get the nod to stay on the active roster.

Before we decide on who our last few guys will be we should probably start with who’s in, right?

The defense is up first.

The starters and backup who are safe along the defensive line are edge end, Trey Flowers, nose tackle and current holdout, Damon Harrison, tackle, A’Shawn Robinson, big end, Da’Shawn Hand, and end, Romeo Okwara. We can be fairly certain of these players. We’ll assume that Harrison and the Detroit Lions come to some kind of agreement prior to preseason.

At linebacker, the off-ball players like Jack linebacker, Devon Kennard and Will linebacker, Christian Jones, along with Jarrad Davis who plays both the middle and Will are all safe. Likewise, second-round draft pick, Jahlani Tavai, who is a middle linebacker who might move around, is safe.

Three safeties are safe, Tracy Walker, Quandre Diggs, and 2019 third-rounder Will Harris.

The cornerback position has improved a lot over the last year where current holdout, Darius Slay, free agent signee, Justin Coleman, fifth-round draftee, Amani Oruwariye, and free agent Rashan Melvin should not be going anywhere soon. Again, we’ll keep our fingers crossed that Slay reports to training camp or for the preseason.

In case you weren’t keeping count, sixteen defensive players are sure to be hanging around for Game One.