The Detroit Lions ended their 2024 preseason with a 24-17 win at home against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday. Now the focus shifts to Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET, which is the league deadline to be down to 53 players on the active roster going into the regular season.
Going into the preseason finale, head coach Dan Campbell acknowledged there's only "five or six" spots open on the Lions' 53-man roster. That wasn't a particularly huge revelation, but it was interesting to have him ballpark an exact number. Campbell also acknowledged how there will be some good players the Lions just don't have room for. That is quite a turn from three years ago, when the Lions had nowhere near the roster they have now.
Without further ado, now that this year's preseason is in the books, here is a final 53-man roster projection for the Lions before cut down day.
Final Detroit Lions 53-man roster projection before roster cuts
Quarterbacks (3)
-Jared Goff
-Hendon Hooker
-QB to be named
Campbell has said Nate Sudfeld has a leg up on Hooker in the battle for the No. 2 spot on the depth chart here, which isn't an ideal scenario the Lions should be embracing under any circumstance. Sudfeld also didn't play against the Steelers, prompting Golden Tate, the former Lions' wide receiver working the Detroit telecast as an analyst, to assume he must be the No. 2 quarterback.
With that said, I'm going bold/outside the box to suggest a more credible, experienced backup will be brought in. Then Sudfeld can officially start looking at whatever his next job will be (it shouldn't be taking up a spot anywhere on an NFL roster anymore).
We've seen the Lions make late changes to their depth chart behind Goff before, and they should be open to doing it again if they don't have full faith in Hooker yet.
Running Backs (4)
-David Montgomery
-Jahmyr Gibbs
-Sione Vaki
-Craig Reynolds
The Lions could have a conversation about keeping five running backs. Jermar Jefferson stated his case for that with two touchdowns against the Steelers, and Zonovan Knight would make a lot of other rosters. But I could only get to four here, with consideration for other positions.