2:04pm: Instead of placing Stafford on IR, the Lions will slide Driskel to their injured list, per Yates (on Twitter). Driskel started three games for the Lions in place of Stafford this season but missed Detroit’s Thanksgiving Day game with a hamstring injury. Although Driskel got in three limited practices this week, he will nevertheless end up on IR. Sloter and Blough are now the only healthy quarterbacks on the Lions’ roster.
1:55pm: Kyle Sloter will head back to an NFC North franchise. The Lions will sign the former UDFA quarterback off the Cardinals’ practice squad, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.
This will give Detroit four quarterbacks on its active roster. While it could be a precursor to a Matthew Stafford IR trip, no such move has been made yet. Stafford, Sloter, Jeff Driskel and David Blough will reside on the Lions’ 53-man roster.
Shortly after teams finalized their rosters in early September, the Lions scheduled a Sloter workout. But he instead opted to join the Cardinals’ practice squad. Nearly three months later, Sloter will head to Detroit.
Sloter spent two seasons with the Vikings, who plucked him off waivers from the Broncos after his strong 2017 preseason as a rookie UDFA. The Northern Colorado alum, however, could not beat out Sean Mannion for Minnesota’s backup job this year. The Cardinals signed him to their practice squad shortly after the Vikings cut him.
Stafford has missed the past four Lions games, giving way to first Driskel and then Blough. Stafford has objected to being shut down early, but with the Lions now well out of contention at 3-8-1, it would not make much sense to redeploy their franchise centerpiece this season. The 31-year-old passer is dealing with fractured bones in his back.
