Detroit Lions waive Brady Breeze and Josh Johnson to get down to 85 players

The Detroit Lions got down to 85 players ahead of Tuesday afternoon’s deadline, waiving safety Brady Breeze and wide receiver Josh Johnson.

The Detroit Lions got a little head start on trimming their roster from 90 to 85 players on Monday morning, parting ways with center Ryan McCollum, tight end Garrett Griffin and tight end Nolan Givan.

Before Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET league-wide deadline to be down to 85 players, the Lions got there by waiving safety Brady Breeze and wide receiver Josh Johnson.

Breeze was waived with an injury designation, after he was injured on the opening kickoff of the preseason opener against the Atlanta Falcons. If he clears waivers, he will revert back to the Lions’ injured reserve list and his 2022 season would be over.

Johnson was waived with an injury settlement, so he could latch on with another team right away.

Detroit Lions make two seasy cuts to get down to 85

The Lions claimed Breeze off waivers from the Tennessee Titans late last season, and he played mostly special teams (72 snaps, to 14 defensive snaps) over four games for them. But he was continually being bumped down the pecking order at safety this offseason, and his injury against the Falcons all but sealed that he would be among these first five cuts for the Lions.

Johnson is an undrafted rookie out of Tulsa, and he just hadn’t done much at practice recently. He seems to have potential (83 receptions for over 1,100 yards in his final season at Tulsa), but a deep wide receiver room in Detroit was always going to hard for him to crack.

Next week (Aug. 23), NFL teams have to go from 85 down to 80 players. With multiple players on the NFI or PUP list, the Lions may not have to make any outright cuts. NFL rules now allow teams to use those lists in the cut down from 85 to 80, though whoever is kept on the PUP and NFI lists would have to miss at least the first four games of the season.