On Saturday, pending the internet outage Friday morning that has instantly impacted airline travel, rookies will report to Detroit Lions' training camp. Next Tuesday, July 23, veterans will follow.
Training camp and preseason games will be about narrowing the current offseason roster (currently at 89 players for the Lions, pending if there's a new addition before the first camp practice) down to 53 to head into the season with.
A big chunk of the Lions active roster heading into the season opener against the Los Angeles Rams, barring significant injuries that can't be foreseen, can essentially be written in stone right now. There will be some good competition for starting jobs though, and in some cases there will be battles for roster spots if/when it comes down to a positional numbers game at the back end of the roster.
On the doorstep of training camp, here's a new projection for the Lions' 53-man roster.
Detroit Lions pre-training camp 53-man roster projection
Quarterbacks: 2 (2/53)
-Jared Goff
-Hendon Hooker
The obvious question here is if the Lions keep two of three quarterbacks on the final 53. The practice squad and the league's emergency quarterback rule opens the door to stashing Sudfeld there.
Running Backs: 4 (6/53)
-Jahmyr Gibbs
-David Montgomery
-Sione Vaki
-Zonovan Knight
The Lions seem likely to keep four running backs on the 53-man roster heading into the season, with Gibbs, Montgomery and Vaki the locks. So it comes down to what's sure to be a good battle for the fourth spot, and the No. 3 running back role if we're getting down to it, between Knight and Craig Reynolds. The youth and upside edge goes to Knight, so he gets the edge here heading into camp.
Wide Receivers: 5 (11/53)
-Amon-Ra St. Brown
-Jameson Williams
-Kalif Raymond
-Donovan Peoples-Jones
-Antoine Green
It's tempting to try to get to six here, but the way this group currently looks and narrowing down other position groups makes it hard to do so.
Tight Ends: 4 (15/53)
-Sam LaPorta
-Brock Wright
-Shane Zylstra
-James Mitchell
LaPorta and Wright are obvious here, and the Lions like Zylstra. Mitchell is firmly on the roster bubble, but here he does enough to get one last shot on the roster going into the 2024 season.
Offensive Line: 9 (24/53)
-OT Penei Sewell
-OT Taylor Decker
-OG Graham Glasgow
-OG Kevin Zeitler
-C Frank Ragnow
-OG/OT Colby Sorsdal
-OT/OG Giovanni Manu
-OT Dan Skipper
-OG Christian Mahogany
Behind the five starters here, depth is a concern-if only from an experience standpoint. The Lions gave up too much to (arguably) overdraft Manu to end up exposing him to other teams by cutting him and trying to get him back on the practice squad. Kingsley Eguakun is a UDFA dark horse/possible successor to Ragnow who could come out of nowhere to secure a roster spot, but he falls just short here.