3. EDGE James Houston
The Lions had a couple down depth chart edge rushers (Nate Lynn, Isaac Ukwu) shine against the Giants. Meanwhile, Houston struggled to generate any pressure on the quarterback over 22 defensive snaps as he finished with two total tackles. He did set the edge nicely on a run play, forcing the runner to turn it inside. But that should not be a clear highlight of any preseason performance for someone with Houston's raw talent level.
Houston is fading quickly from what once seemed like a locked-in roster spot as the Lions sort out the full makeup of their edge rusher group. He needs to do far better in the second preseason game against the Chiefs, or his status on the roster bubble will burst. It's worth noting he came out of the game against the Giants with a bone bruise in his knee, but a tenuous roster status took a negative turn with or without the injury.
2. WR Maurice Alexander
Alexander's path to a spot on the Lions' roster is clearly as a return man, and the kickoff returner spot for the Lions is open to anyone who may get a shot to assert themselves this preseason. More broadly, only three wide receivers are locked into a roster spot right now.
Alexander had one catch for six yards against the Giants, and he did have a 20-yard kickoff return in the second half. But before that one promising kickoff return, he flat-out muffed a punt and put another on the ground after being hit. The first fumble was recovered by cornerback Steven Gilmore, and on the second Alexander was ruled down by contact to negate the mistake. Well, the down by contact ruling (which was correct) narrowly negated the second mistake in terms of being a potential turnover. The ruling surely did not erase the mistake from the minds of head coach Dan Campbell and special teams coach Dave Fipp.
Alexander could get a bit of a mulligan for his two drops of the football based on poor weather conditions. But his quest to swoop in and earn a roster spot took an undeniable hit on Thursday night.