The Detroit Lions rallied to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 24-23 on Saturday. Wins and losses in the preseason are inconsequential of course, but it's always better to leave the field with a winning feeling. It's no surprise head coach Dan Campbell was happy to win.
"That's a heck of a win for our guys," Campbell says.
— Nolan Bianchi (@nolanbianchi) August 17, 2024
"I thought they went in there and competed...it was a vast improvement from last week."
With starters mostly resting, on the offensive side completely, the second preseason was full of opportunity for a lot of Lions' players. Quite a few guys (Isaiah Williams, etc.) took advantage of the opportunity, while a few others didn't.
It's a shorter list here than it was after the first preseason game, and a harder list to form, but these three Lions' players played themselves off the roster in Week 2 of the preseason.
3 Detroit Lions who played themselves off the roster in the second preseason game
3. WR Daurice Fountain
On the second play of the third quarter against the Chiefs, Hendon Hooker didn't make the best throw in Fountain's direction. But Mike Payton of AtoZ Sports summed it up nicely, after Dan Campbell had begged for someone down the wide receiver depth chart to step up and opportunity was expected to be open to anyone to do so.
Feels like a bad sign for Fountain that this is the fist time we’ve seen him today
— Mike Payton (@AtoZ_Payton) August 17, 2024
Fountain was apparently on the field for the final drive of the first half, but he was easy to miss. Payton's point stands.
Fountain was an early training camp star, pushing for a potential prominent role in the Lions' receiving corps. But he has not sustained it at all. While he did finish with two catches for 15 yards in Saturday's game, he was simply outdone by Isaiah Williams (six catches for 71 yards), Kaden Davis (a 61-yard touchdown) and even Maurice Alexander (a 28-yard catch) in the competition for a couple spots on the wide receiver depth chart.
Fountain is a nice story overall, but in a production-based business he has not gotten it done since pads came on in training camp.
2. WR Jalon Calhoun
Calhoun, the undrafted rookie out of Duke, has always had a very uphill climb to make the Lions' 53-man roster. But with just two catches for 14 yards in two preseason games, and a fumble on a kickoff return against the Chiefs, he may as well make plans to be let go on or before cutdown day. Not to mention how well fellow UDFA Isaiah Williams has done in both preseason games by comparison.
1. EDGE James Houston
Houston had what was practically a no-show performance in the preseason opener, however driven by a knee injury he suffered, which put him on this list after that game. Then news came this past week that the effort to make him into a SAM linebacker was being abandoned to let him do what he does best as a pass rusher. Saturday's game was going to be big for him, if health permitted him to play.
There was some immediate indication Houston started Saturday's game, but it appears to be a miscalculation by the production crew on FOX2 Detroit. Beyond that, he did not dent the stat sheet and if his name was ever called for any kind of play I missed it.
Update: Via the Detroit News, Houston did not play against the Chiefs.
Houston was revelation with eight sacks over the final seven games of his rookie season in 2022. A fractured ankle in Week 2 last season gave him a mulligan to take into this year, but he has not developed into anything more than an edge rusher. It feels like it's over for him in Detroit.