5 mistakes the Lions may have made during roster cuts, including one Brad Holmes needs to explain
Detroit still has one of the NFL’s deeper rosters, but losing Greg Dortch, leaving Erick Hunter unsigned and standing pat on waivers are among several decisions worth questioning.
The Detroit Lions made several questionable roster decisions during the 53-man cutdown process, and while none of them are earth-shattering, they deserve scrutiny. From losing Greg Dortch to the Buffalo Bills to carrying five running backs, Detroit’s roster construction raises real questions heading into the 2026 regular season. Let’s break it down.
Greg Dortch is the big one
What happened here? Because at training camp, Greg Dortch was the Lions’ No. 1 kick returner and No. 1 punt returner all summer. He was repping at wide receiver 3 and 4, working with the ones constantly. I don’t know what happened. I honestly look forward to knowing what happened. We’re going to talk to Brad Holmes on Wednesday, and maybe we’ll get some sort of answers on that, but at this point, it’s one of the weirdest things I’ve seen this team do.
He’s gone. He’s not coming back. There was some thought process that it could be a roster gymnastics thing, that the Lions would put two guys on IR and bring them right back, but that’s not what happened. He’s signing with the Buffalo Bills. It’s already happened.
I don’t know who’s kick returning. I don’t know who’s punt returning for this team. Is it going to be Jameson Williams? That guy could do it. They tried him there in training camp. They did it with Amon-Ra St. Brown too. But I doubt they go with the starters, and they definitely shouldn’t. There’s Sione Vaki, there’s Jacob Saylors, who was the kick returner last year. Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp said a couple weeks ago they’d like somebody who’s pretty strong on punt return because those guys tend to get hit a little bit more. Tom Kennedy’s here too, but then why’d you put him on the practice squad? We’ll figure that one out soon.
Why isn’t Erick Hunter on the practice squad?
On one hand, you’re telling us that while he does make mistakes, he makes a lot of plays. And you could see him making the plays. You saw it at camp; you saw it in preseason. Fans, you watched the preseason games and saw that guy making plays constantly on special teams. He’s not on the practice squad now. That doesn’t mean he won’t be. There are still two spots left, and this is one of those things that could still get solved.
But the Lions sometimes do these weird things. You go back to last year, and I think if you asked every media member who covered this team all summer long, they would have told you Nate Lynn was going to make that team. Then he just didn’t. He didn’t make the 53. He didn’t make the practice squad. He never got brought back. I don’t know where he’s even at now. Is that going to happen to Hunter? It just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. He’s not a huge difference maker at this point, but there’s a lot of upside with Hunter, and it feels like kind of throwing that upside away.
The 17th waiver claim went unused
The Lions didn’t do anything with their 17th priority waiver claim. Not that there was a ton of guys available, but I thought if McKinnley Jackson could have been there, that would have been a good route to go. It’s the highest waiver claim Detroit has had since 2022, and this is a team with Super Bowl aspirations, so they’re probably never going to have that high a claim again.
The good thing is it doesn’t just go away. When the Lions look to claim people during the regular season, which they totally will, they’ll still have that high waiver claim ability. I just thought for sure they would grab somebody to fill out the roster.
The Josh Dobbs question lingers
The Lions may still try to find another quarterback, but this one feels off. No doubt about it, Luke Altmyer was not ready for that job, and that is not what I’m saying. I’ve been saying all summer that while Luke looks good at times, he is not ready to be a QB2. Dobbs is more ready, but outside of the final preseason game against second- and third-stringers, I have not seen anything from him this summer that tells me if Jared Goff were to go down, Detroit would be kind of all right.
It makes you start to think: this team is really good with Goff, but can this team find a quarterback whose name is not Jared Goff? Because Hendon Hooker wasn’t it, Kyle Allen was fine, Teddy Bridgewater was okay but retired, and now you’ve got Dobbs. They struggle to find a backup quarterback. There are some good options out there right now, and I think the Lions should take advantage of that. If they don’t, I think it’s a huge mistake.
Why carry 5 running backs?
There might be a reason for this, and that’s why I’m placing it so low on this list. Last we knew, Jabari Small was hurt, so maybe it’s a roster-type situation. We know Isiah Pacheco is hurt too, but we don’t know how long he’s going to be out. Maybe the Lions are looking at it like they’d like to have four running backs regardless, so if Pacheco is going to be out for a while, even though he’s on the roster, Jabari Small fills that gap.
There’s nothing wrong with Small being on this roster. But that extra roster spot might have been better suited for Nick Whiteside or Joe Bachie. Yes, those guys are on the practice squad, and the Lions can bring them up at any point. That’s why this is so low on this list, because it’s an easily correctable mistake. You carry 11 defensive linemen, so you were okay going over a number at a position. I just don’t know why one of those positions wasn’t cornerback.
All of these are pretty small mistakes outside of the Dortch situation, which could seriously bite the Lions if they cannot find a return man. Special teams is a big part of this game, whether you want to believe that or not. They need to find a kick returner and punt returner. If they do, we’ll all forget Greg Dortch was ever a thing in Detroit. If they don’t, this move is going to be looked back on, and everybody’s going to say, “What the heck were you thinking?” We’ll hear from Brad Holmes on Wednesday, and we’ll have video from Allen Park recapping everything he talks about in that presser. Let’s see what happens.
Detroit Lions News