The Lions are the latest team announce their roster machinations in advance of tomorrow’s cutdown deadline. The following players have been released, per Tim Twentyman of Lions.com (via Twitter):
Twentyman also tweets that S DeJon Gomes has been placed on injured reserve. With Tavecchio’s release, Nate Freese has won Detriot’s kicking competition.
When Vikings newcomer Captain Munnerlyn signed with the team in March, he envisioned being the starting cornerback to start the regular season. Even after he was listed beside Josh Robinson as a “co-starters” on the team’s first depth chart, the 26-year-old is still convinced that the starting gig belongs to him.
“Basically, I didn’t know that I was going to come off the bench and just slide into the nickel,” he told Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “I don’t think that was the plan. I always thought I would start outside and slide in… I’ve played a lot of football in this league. I’ve started a lot of games.
“I really didn’t even know there was any competition.”
Let’s see what else is happening in the NFC North…
The Lions’ have released six players today, on their way to cutting the roster down to 75 men, according to Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com (via Twitter). The players who were cut are as follows:
The team has also placed wide receiver T.J. Jones on the physically unable to perform list, reports Twentyman (via Twitter).
The team will have to cut seven more players on their way to the 75-man roster, and have until Tuesday at 4 P.M. to do so, according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press (via Twitter).
This morning, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport said the Packers were pessimistic about an arm injury suffered by nose tackle B.J. Raji last night. In his latest tweet, Rapoport reports (via Twitter) the belief is Raji tore his biceps, and tests will determine whether it’s fully or partially torn.
12:29: Raji’s biceps tear is confirmed, per JSOnline’s Tom Silverstein (via Twitter), who says the fear is Raji will be lost for the season.
Here’s some more links derived from last night’s action involving the Packers, Bears and Lions:
Even though the Lions declined his fifth-year option and demoted him to a reserve role, defensive tackle Nick Fairley says he still wants to stay with the Lions beyond this season, as Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press writes. Even though he’s bummed about not being a part of the first unit, he says that this offseason hasn’t made him question his future with the organization.
“What it means, I couldn’t tell you to be honest,” the the 6’5″, 291 pound lineman said. “I want to be here. I want to stay here in Detroit.”
General Manager Martin Mayhew had the option to exercise Fairley’s fifth-year option for just $5.5MM, but he opted against it due to Fairley’s inconsistency. That means that a strong 2014 season will make it difficult for the Lions to retain Fairley, but Mayhew said that he is hopeful the 26-year-old will use it as motivation. The former No. 13 overall pick has had his work ethic called into question throughout his NFL career, and a fat new contract could be the carrot on a stick that gets him to realize his potential.
Fairley has also struggled with weight issues in the past. He played as heavy as 322 pounds in 2013 and reported to camp last month at 308. After undergoing sleep apnea surgery this offseason, he dropped down to 295 pounds but poor eating habits spiked his weight once again. Currently, he’s weighing in at 315 pounds and sees that as a comfortable playing weight.
A starter when healthy his first three seasons, Fairley might not be more than a rotational two-down lineman in the Lions’ new defensive scheme, Birkett writes. The Lions have used Jason Jones as an inside rusher in sub packages this summer and Pro Bowl defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh rarely comes off the field.
In 15 games last season, Fairley recorded a career-high 6.0 sacks, 22 tackles, and a safety.
Roster construction is a collaborative effort in Detroit, but head coach Jim Caldwell acknowledges that general manager Martin Mayhew will have the final say on the 53 players the Lions carry into the regular season, as he tells Justin Rogers of MLive.com. If Caldwell were making the final decisions, he’d like favor production over potential, for one obvious reason.
“I’m in the business of winning games and winning games now,” Caldwell said. “So the most important thing to me is getting guys who can be in a position to help us win right now. There are other, businesses (and) positions within the organization that may look at it differently, but we have to look at it as coaches. We’re looking for the best guy to help us win, at this particular moment in time, and that’s what counts for us.”
Here’s more from around the NFC North:
Although the Lions aren’t exactly loaded with impact players in the secondary, cornerback Drayton Florence was unable to stick with the team, lasting less than two weeks on the roster. According to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press (via Twitter), Florence has been released by the club.
Florence, a second-round pick back in 2003, had a previous stint in Detroit in 2012, and has also played for the Chargers, Jaguars, Bills, and – most recently – the Panthers. In Carolina last season, the 33-year-old made 26 tackles, defended nine passes, and grabbed a pair of interceptions, ranking an impressive 19th among 110 qualified cornerbacks, according to Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics (subscription required).
With Rashean Mathis and Darius Slay projected to start for the Lions at cornerback, Florence was viewed as a contender for the third or fourth spot on the depth chart, after signing with the team earlier this month. Instead, it seems Detroit will look elsewhere to fill those roles, either leaning on in-house options or perusing the free agent market again when roster cutdowns begin next week.
The Packers have yet to make a roster move in August, but that’s not necessarily by design, according to GM Ted Thompson, who says it’s just the way it’s worked out for the team. “Sometimes if you keep adding salt to the mix, and it gets too salty,” Thompson added, according to Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Let’s round up a few more notes from around the NFC North….
Those defensive penalties that have plagued preseason games for the last two weeks won’t be going away once the regular season gets underway, according to vice president of officiating Dean Blandino. Blandino tells Peter King of TheMMQB.com that defensive holding and illegal contact penalties will continue to be a point of emphasis throughout the year, and that he expects coaches and teams to adjust their style of play over the next few weeks. In the second weekend of the 2014 preseason, there have been nearly nine more penalties per game than an average 2013 regular season contest, which is a number that will hurt the game if it extends into the regular season, writes King.
Here’s more from this week’s MMQB:
We’ll round up today’s minor transactions here, with the latest news appearing at the top:
Earlier updates