5 Detroit Lions who played themselves off the roster in the preseason opener

1. QB Nate Sudfeld

Let's get a little nuts here... but maybe it's not that crazy.

We know who Sudfeld is, he of 37 career regular season pass attempts entering his ninth NFL season. But he showed it in full against the Giants, going 13-for-24 for 96 yards with an interception (46.5 passer rating). He was done no favors by lackluster pass protection from the Lions' backup lineman (four sacks), but he is not functional on the move (see interception on a throw across his body, and at least one of the sacks he took). He also botched a quarterback sneak, with no feel for how to execute it.

Sudfeld actually padded his stats a bit when he had to re-enter the game for the fourth quarter after Hendon Hooker left injured, highlighted by a 26-yard completion to Donovan Peoples-Jones. Playing the entire first half, the journeyman signal caller went 7-for-15 for 40 yards with a 25.7 passer rating.

After the game (h/t to Lions Wire) Dan Campbell started out speaking plainly about Sudfeld's performance, before providing an excuse for his inaccuracy.

“There’s some decisions in there that I would like to be better. I expect better from him,” Campbell said in his postgame press conference. “I’m not as concerned right now or yet about the accuracy with what it is, wet ball, this and that, but there’s just a couple of decisions in there that I know he can be better on.”

Should Campbell really expect that much better from Sudfeld? Less than ideal weather aside, he has only had a perceived edge in the backup quarterback battle because of Hendon Hooker not fully asserting himself. If Hooker hadn't been injured Thursday night he'd have the reigns of the job now, and as long as he's not dealing with a serious concussion Sudfeld is not equipped to loosen that hold.

The Lions could look for a more established backup quarterback. That wouldn't be the wrong idea if they don't think Hooker can step in if something happened to Jared Goff, and there are still questions about that even after a promising performance against the Giants.

What's abundantly clear, as it was/should have been before, is Sudfeld should not have any path to being the Lions' No. 2 quarterback. Pending Hooker's status in concussion protocol, that path still exists moving toward the second preseason game. There's time for that to change though, one way or another, and by the time roster cuts come Sudfeld should wind up being an easy one. His performance against the Giants sealed, or should have sealed, his fate.