Heading toward June minicamp and eventually to training camp in July, these five Detroit Lions could be cut before ever playing a snap for the team in 2023.
To a large degree, barring any notable additions from a shallow pool or free agents or realistic trade candidates, the 90 players the Detroit Lions currently have will be the 90 players they'll have when training camp starts in July.
But there will be moves to go from 90 down to 53 players before Week 1, and the suspension for wide receiver Jameson Williams to start the season will open up a spot on the active roster during that stretch.
There may be some notable names let go by the Lions as competitons for jobs roll on. For example, however obviously, there will not be two long snappers (Scott Daly, Jake McQuaide) or more than one placekicker (Michael Badgley, Riley Patterson, John Parker Romo) on the final 53-man roster. The ranks will be thinned at other positions too, based on offseason additions that will push some guys down the pecking order to now more strictly battle for a roster spot.
If we know anything, Lions general manager Brad Holmes will have his eyes open for outside additions and the coaching staff will operate on the merit players earn with no regard for anything else.
Here are four Detroit Lions players who could be cut before ever playing a regular season snap for the team in 2023.
4 Detroit Lions who could be cut before playing a snap for them in 2023
4. PK Michael Badgley
Badgley lingered through the brunt of the offseason as the only kicker the Lions had on the roster. And it was not for lack of possible options. Then they signed All-XFL kicker John Parker Romo after a rookie minicamp tryout, and more recently they brought back Riley Patterson in a trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Three will eventually be a crowd in the kicker competition. But for some reason the Lions felt the need to make a trade for Patterson (even only for a conditional draft pick) rather than go another direction for a third kicker to be an OTA/camp leg.
Reports out of OTA practice on Thursday of this week, for what it's worth, reflect Romo gaining a leg up in the kicker competition. He has the strongest leg of the three competitors without a doubt, and if he wins the job the Lions could take punterJack Fox off of kickoff duties. The Lions could very well value that last part, even just as a possibility to have/consider, highly.
Patterson lost the kicker competition to Austin Seibert in Lions training camp last year, which invites the question of why he was brought back. He's almost a lock to be cut, while Badgley is less likely based on having a track record no other current Lions kicker has.
Whether Romo is the upgrade over the Lions end up with or not, Badgley is on thinning ice to make it to Week 1 with the job he held down for a big chunk of last year.
3. LB Julian Okwara
The younger Okwara brother the Lions have in the fold certainly has plenty of potential. But he has not been able to stay healthy, going back into his college career at Notre Dame. Last year, it was a leg injury during training camp. Then an unlucky elbow injury, when he braced himself from a fall, laned him on IR and ended his 2022 season.
Looking purely at the Lions’ edge rusher spot, it’s deep and looking hard to crack for a substantial role–Aidan Hutchinson, James Houston, Romeo Okwara, Charles Harris. Even looking to off-the-ball linebacker, where a place could possibly be found for the younger Okwara, the Lions go four deep there with capable players (Alex Anzalone, Jack Campbell, Malcolm Rodriguez, Derrick Barnes) and Jalen Reeves-Maybin has special teams value.
Julian Okwara may stick around for awhile on the Lions’ roster all the way to final cuts. But the odds, based purely on a numbers game at the spots he plays, are against him making it to Week 1 on the final 53-man roster and playing an snap for the Lions in 2023.
Okwara could have some trade value, but an outright cut is definitely possible.
2. OG Graham Glasgow
As much as Glasgow was an interesting and somewhat notable free agent addition for the Lions, in a return to the team that drafted him, his 2022 season with the Denver Broncos was a rough one. Credit to Jeff Risdon of Lions Wire for this one, and it can definitely be made to make sense.
Here's what Risdon wrote about the prospect Glasgow could be cut.
"Wait, what?! Glasgow just got back to Detroit as a free agent. No way they’d cut him!Jeff Risdon, Lions Wire
Well…
The Broncos parted ways with Glasgow after a largely miserable 2022 campaign as their starting center for most of the year after beginning as the starting right guard. Glasgow allowed a league-high (tied) five sacks, was guilty of 10 penalties (3rd-most) and finished in the bottom 10 in both pass blocking and run blocking grades from PFF for regular starting centers.
The gruesome ankle injury he suffered in 2021 definitely impacted Glasgow in 2022. If he’s not better, Glasgow might not beat out Ross Pierschbacher as the backup center or fifth-round rookie Colby Sorsdal (among others) as the top reserve guard. It’s not a given that he does — think of Breshad Perriman back in 2021."
This scenario feels unlikely. But if Halapoulivaati Vaitai beats Glasgow out for the starting job at right guard, that could start a domino effect that leads to him being completely off the Lions' roster before Week 1.
Ross Pierschbacher shouldn't be hard to beat out to be Frank Ragnow's backup, but it's not out of the question for it not to happen. Rookie Colby Sorsdal may make a strong case to be the top reserve guard over Glasgow. Then he becomes a veteran without a role that matters very much, and maybe he even asks for his release if those things happen.
In a perfect world, Glasgow comes in and beats Vaitai out to be the Lions' starting right guard. But the NFL is not a perfect world.
1. DT Levi Onwuzurike
Simply out, Onwuzurike, a second-round pick by the Lions in 2021, is moving quickly toward bust territory. He was hampered by a back injury during his rookie season, Then he suffered a back injury early in last year's training camp, and eventually had season-ending surgery.
This offseason's updates on Onwuzurike haven't been all that promising, basically because there hasn't been much said by head coach Dan Campbell. This week at OTAs, where the young defensive tackle is running but not fully practicing, here's what Campbell said.
"I would say he’s probably right on schedule for what we thought,” Campbell said at his Thursday morning press conference. “He just got on the grass really about a week ago to where he can begin to run.”"
So then really it’s, okay, how fast can—now that he’s moving, he’s out there on the grass, he’s able to run, he’s off the Altered G (anti-gravity treadmill)—how fast can his body come back? We don't entirely have that answer,” “Certainly, we’re hoping that we get him in camp at some point, but I can’t give you a timeline of that right now.”"
So the Lions are hoping to have Onwuzurike at some point in training camp, with the first day as seemingly a question mark. There is time for that hope to transition into something more firm, but back injuries are tricky and Onwuzurike's has not been put to any sort of rest.
It may take an injury settlement, if he can't get healthy enough to fully take the practice field. But Onwuzurike has to be somewhere on the roster bubble, healthy or not, and the Lions could very well elect to stop wondering if he'll ever be healthy enough to contribute.