Detroit Lions announce signings of 12 undrafted free agents

With rookie minicamp starting Friday, the Detroit Lions announced the signings of 12 undrafted free agents. 

Within a day or so after the draft, we had a list of 12 undrafted free agents the Detroit Lions would be bringing into the fold. Some roster trimming was necessary to make room, ahead of rookie minicamp on Friday, and they got it done on Thursday.

On Friday, the team announced the signings of all 12 undrafted free agents with three seperate announcements. Here’s the full list, confirming the initial list:

Central Michigan WR Kalil Pimpleton
San Jose State TE Derrick Deese Jr.
TCU OT Obinna Eze
Michigan State OG/OT Kevin Jarvis
San Diego State RB Greg Bell
Appalachian State WR Corey Sutton
Appalachian State DT Demetrius Taylor
Ferris State OL Zein Obeid
Tulsa WR Josh Johnson
Virginia Tech CB Jermaine Waller
Miami (OH) CB Cedric Boswell
SE Louisiana TE Nolan Givan

Eze, Jarvis, Bell and Deese all got more than $100,000 guaranted to sign with the Lions as an undrafted free agent. That seems to give them a solid shot to earn a roster spot, or at worst land on the practice squad if another team doesn’t grab them. Six figure guarantees for undrafted players doesn’t happen a lot, and that the Lions did it four times for players they really wanted to get a better look at is telling.

Dan Campbell and his coaching staff wants plenty of competition around, and the 20 rookies coming in (counting eight draft picks of course) will fuel more of that for sure. Time will tell how many of these undrafted guys stick around, if any, but some veterans could now be looking over their shoulder more than they were. And that, is surely the point–to make everyone better.