Blough was an undrafted rookie from Purdue last year who ended up starting five games after injuries to Matthew Stafford and Jeff Driskel. The offseason addition of Chase Daniel made Blough expendable, but he’ll serve as the third quarterback.
Wiggins has been in the league since 2012, and he has extensive starting experience. He’s started 13 games for Detroit over the past two years, and will probably be the first guy getting called up if there are offensive line injuries. Williams carried the ball 49 times for Indy last year, but he’ll have a tough time getting any snaps now that the Lions have also added Adrian Peterson.
The Lions released former first-round pick Joshua Garnett on Sunday morning, per a club announcement. The Lions also dropped defensive back Michael Jackson, linebacker Christian Sam, defensive end Jonathan Wynn, and wide receivers Travis Fulgham and Chris Lacy to reach the 80-man limit for single squad practices.
The 49ers took Garnett No. 28 overall in 2016, but he never lived up to his pre-draft hype. The Stanford product started in 11 of his 15 games as a rookie, but failed to impress. Then, knee surgery wiped out his 2017 season and he played in just seven games as a reserve in 2018. The Niners cut him before 2019, and his ensuing workout tour didn’t result in a contract. The Lions picked Garnett up in February, but they’ve put him back on the free agent pile as the season draws near.
The Lions’ O-line was not particularly good at run-blocking or pass protection in 2019 and earned below-average DVOA marks in both categories. On the plus side, Russell Bodinewas Detroit’s only offensive line opt-out, so they might be able to stand pat with their current group of linemen.
The Lions are set to have an opportunity to see their top running back in action two more times this season. They are activating Kerryon Johnson from IR in advance of their Week 16 game in Denver, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.
Johnson has been out since Week 7 with a knee injury. He returned to practice nearly three weeks ago and will be back on Detroit’s 53-man roster. With Johnson having spent much of his career on IR, these two lower-stakes (for the Lions) games will take on greater importance for the second-year running back.
This move appears to come with some risk, especially in a lost season. The 2018 second-round pick missed six games as a rookie with a knee injury. Johnson, who’s played in six games this season, remains the Lions’ top backfield investment and figures to go into 2020 as the team’s starter. But given the Auburn alum’s injury issues, these two games could help determine whether the team opts to add backfield competition next year.
This season has obviously not gone well for Johnson, whose yards-per-carry average dropped to 3.3 from the 5.4-yard mark he posted as a rookie. He’s totaled 434 yards from scrimmage in 2019. The Lions have seen considerable backfield turnover this season and have recently used second-year back Bo Scarbrough as their starter.
To make room on their 53-man roster, the Lions placed linebacker Christian Jones on IR. They also promoted defensive end Jonathan Wynn from their practice squad. Jones joins fellow starting linebacker Jarrad Davis on IR.
Listed below are the Sunday roster moves for the four NFC North teams. Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline yesterday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters, claiming players off waivers or signing guys who clear waivers. Those transactions for the Bears, Lions, Packers and Vikings are noted below.
Additionally, teams can begin constructing their 10-man practice squads today. You can check out our glossary entry on practice squads to brush up on those changes, as well as all the other guidelines that govern the 10-man units, whose players practice with the team but aren’t eligible to suit up on Sundays.
Here are Sunday’s NFC North transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day.
August 31st, 2019 at 6:03pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg
The Lions are the latest team to officially trim their roster all the way down to 53. After stockpiling quarterbacks, they’ve now cut two of them. Former AAF passer Luis Perez and Tom Savage were both let go. That means that legendary journeyman Josh Johnson has made the team as Matthew Stafford‘s backup, and recently acquired rookie David Blough has made the squad as the third-stringer. Detroit also waived Isaac Nauta, a rookiie tight end out of Georgia who they drafted in the seventh-round.
