What we learned about the Lions: 53-man picture clears up, surprise decisions loom, veteran steps up, D-line brings the heat
Saturday’s game against Washington brought clarity to the quarterback battle, Detroit’s receiver depth and several of the toughest decisions on the roster bubble.
I don’t know about you, but we came into the Detroit Lions preseason game against the Washington Commanders with the thought process that this was it for everyone. You were either going to make or you weren’t, based on this final chapter.
Yes, there is one more preseason game and three more practices, but there were only really six or seven spots that needed to be filled, and we think they’re filled now. Here are the biggest takeaways from the game for us and who maybe sealed their fate in good and bad ways.
Dobbs Report
It’s already been tough to see Dobbs making the team, getting sacked, and fumbling the ball on his first dropback; certainly doesn’t help. That fumble, of course, leading to a touchdown, makes it worse. Then it got even worse when he threw a pick on the very next drive. A 5o-yard touchdown run certainly righted some of those wrongs. But I don’t know if he righted enough wrongs. He finished the day 7-for-12 for 74 yards and an interception.
Altmyer Report
Look, I don’t know if the Lions feel comfortable with Altmyer being their QB2 this early, and I personally don’t think they should, but the offense is noticeably smoother with him out there. I think he’s more than convinced Detroit that carrying three might not be a super bad idea. Altmyer didn’t get any favors done for him. He went out there with the second and third strong offensive linemen and got sacked three times on his first drive.
Things settled in a little bit more, and Altmyer was able to have a much smoother game and led some good drives. He finished the day going 9-for-13 for 86 yards.
Lions seemingly taking pass rush really seriously this year
The Commanders’ first two plays on offense were stopped by a pressure from Devin White, with Derrick Moore collapsing the pocket and a sack from D.J. Wonnum. Then Moore added a sack-fumble in the second quarter. Once the first string came out, the pressure dropped a bit, but that was to be expected. The guys you want to bring the heat for the Lions brought the heat. Nine pressures and two sacks from the Lions in the first half.
This is why I have Tay Martin making the 53-man roster
Wrote about it a bit last week when I talked about how Martin (#17) made the team in that game even though he only had one catch for 14 yards. It’s because of the blocks he makes on plays like this and what he can do on special teams. The blocking here sprung Dobbs and helped put points on the board. That’s the kind of thing you want to see from a WR5 or WR6.
It’s ok to have some offensive line concerns right now
Look, it’s not about the starters, and that’s good. Those guys seem to be playing well together. The problem is everyone beyond that. Larry Borom allowed a sack, Seth McLaughline allowed a sack, Colby Sorsdal allowed a sack. For a team that dealt with injuries on the offensive line last year, it doesn’t make you feel warm and fuzzy inside that the depth is having a rough go right now. That might explain why the Lions brought in veteran guards for tryouts earlier this week.
That’s probably gonna do it for Sorsdal
The former fifth-round pick came in at right tackle and allowed a sack pretty quickly, and then the Lions kicked Miles Fraizer out to right tackle. He came into camp with an uphill battle, but today might have sealed it. A fresh start elsewhere might be the best thing for him. It just never clicked in Detroit.
Meeks’ best day
This was the best we’ve seen from Meeks at tight end. The run blocking was really good, and he put up four catches for 33 yards. I don’t know if it’s quite enough to get him on the roster this year, but I still see Detroit putting him on the practice squad, with the idea being that 2027 is the big year to watch him. He’s been a tight end for like three months now. Still a lot to learn. But then Meeks forced a fumble on a kick return, so that might go a long way for him getting on the roster from a special teams point of view.
Former Lions everywhere
Will Harris, Craig Reynolds, and Amik Robertson were in the building with the Commanders today. Robertson was the one who forced the Dobbs fumble in the first quarter. This led to some revisionist history on how Robertson’s time in Detroit went. He had a tough season in 2025, and it was mainly the reason Detroit moved on, along with wanting to get younger.
Ennis Rakestraw
It’s meaningful that he played in this game after going down with an injury on Thursday. What hurts is that this is also the game where D.J. Reed and Rock Ya-Sin played as well. That meant Rakestraw didn’t get in until the second half. Rakestraw had a fine day. Nothing that really stood out on the box score or anything like that, but he was good in coverage. The story with him at cutdown time is going to be one of the more interesting decisions to watch.
How hard is it going to be to cut some of these running backs?
The answer is it’s going to be really hard. Jacob Saylors has shown up, Jabari Small has shown up, Trayveon Williams showed up big in this game, Raheem Blackshear has shown up, and then there’s the question of what happens with Sione Vaki. It feels like the Lions could carry anything from three to four running backs, so some of these guys are going to be the odd men out. It’s going to be interesting to see where it goes. Our money is on Saylors making it for sure. From there on, I don’t know.
No Vaki, No Good
We need to get some more information on this one, but if we’re going just based on feeling right now, it doesn’t feel good that he didn’t play this game. Considering he’s battling Jacob Saylors for the RB3 spot, it doesn’t help that he didn’t play and Saylors had another productive game.
A good day for Levi Onwuzurkie
Man, he needed it. I don’t quite know if this was good enough for him to net a roster spot, but it might have been good enough to at least get a shot at the practice squad or to put some good film out there for other teams to watch. Three tackles and two pressures on the day for him.
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