Lions Bubble Pressure Meter: Detroit’s 53-man roster is almost settled, but a few familiar names are in real trouble
Saturday clarified several battles on offense, but Detroit still has difficult decisions coming at running back, defensive line, linebacker and cornerback.
The second preseason game is in the books for the Detroit Lions, and at this point, we feel like all that needs to be known is known for this team. It’s hard to see anything else changing in the next three practices and the last preseason game, in which final cuts have to be made less than 24 hours after that.
With that in mind, we want to take one last look at our bubble pressure meter to see who’s still got a shot, who we’re marking safe, and who’s likely out. Let’s jump into it.
Offense
| QB Luke Altmyer | 🟢 Safe |
| QB Josh Dobbs | 🔴 Likely Out |
| RB Jacob Saylors | 🟢 Safe |
| RB Sione Vaki | 🟡 Watching |
| RB Raheem Blackshear | 🟠In Danger |
| RB Jabari Small | 🟠In Danger |
| RB Trayveon Williams | 🟠In Danger |
| WR Cedrick Wilson | 🔴 Likely Out |
| WR Malik Cunninham | 🔴 Likely Out |
| WR Tarik Black | 🔴 Likely Out |
| WR Lucky Jackson | 🟡 Watching |
| WR Tay Martin | 🟢 Safe |
| WR Tom Kennedy | 🟢 Safe |
| TE Jackson Meeks | 🟡 Watching |
| TE Zach Horton | 🔴 Likely Out |
| TE Thomas Gordon | 🔴 Likely Out |
| OT Giovani Manu | 🔴 Likely Out |
| Michael Niese | 🔴 Likely Out |
| OL Ben Bartch | 🔴 Likely Out |
| OL Seth McLaughlin | 🟡 Watching |
| OT Devin Cochran | 🔴 Likely Out |
| OT Colby Sorsdal | 🔴 Likely Out |
| OT Melvin Priestly | 🔴 Likely Out |
| OL Mason Miller | 🔴 Likely Out |
Dobbs scored a nice 50-yard touchdown, but he also threw a really bad interception and fumbled the ball. The latter turned into a fumble-six. It’s Altmyer’s job, if you ask us. That is, unless the Lions look to claim another quarterback once he’s cut.
The running back battle is one of the hardest ones, but it’s hard to see anyone getting ahead of Saylors and Vaki. Even if they all did play really well on Saturday. The question now is which ones can make the practice squad.
I’ve got the Lions keeping Tom Kennedy and Tay Martin for special teams and dirty-work reasons. Kennedy can be a solid punt returner, and Martin just keeps doing all the right little things. It’s hard to ignore him.
Both the Giovanni Manu and Colby Sorsdal experiments are over. Manu has practiced once this summer, and Sorsdal played fine on Saturday, but fine might not be enough at this point.
Defense
| Edge Payton Turnner | 🔴 Likely Out |
| Edge Tyre West | 🟠In Danger |
| Edge Eric O’Neill | 🟡 Watching |
| Edge Anthony Lucas | 🟡 Watching |
| DT Mekhi Wingo | 🟠In Danger |
| DT Levi Onwuzurkie | 🟡 Watching |
| DT Chris Smith | 🟠In Danger |
| DT Myles Adams | 🔴 Likely Out |
| LB Erick Hunter | 🟡 Watching |
| LB Joe Bachie | 🟡 Watching |
| LB Amen Ogbongbemiga | 🔴 Likely Out |
| CB Ekow Boyd-Doe | 🔴 Likely Out |
| CB Aamaris Brown | 🔴 Likely Out |
| CB Ennis Rakestraw | 🟡 Watching |
| CB Ryan Cooper | 🔴 Likely Out |
| S Dan Jackson | 🔴 Likely Out |
Defense is a lot harder to figure out. Right now I’m on both sides of the fence with Onwuzurkie. I just don’t know what is going to happen with him. He had a good day on Saturday, but I haven’t written his name down in the old notebook a ton of times.
Erick Hunter is the most interesting name to watch because this kid has been making some plays. But as special teams coordinator Dave Fipp said, he’s also been making some big mistakes. On Saturday, he came up with a fumble recovery on special teams. I think that counts as a big play. But it’s also really notable that he only played six defensive snaps.
Rakestraw played in this game even though we didn’t initially expect him to after he left practice early on Thursday with an injury. He played fine, but I don’t know how the team feels about it right now. It’s been up and down all summer. Before the injury, it was all up. Can that be enough?
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