The preseason is at long last over and now we are on to that last hurdle before sweet sweet football goodness: finalizing the Detroit Lions 53 man roster.
Throughout the offseason, we’ve had plenty of guys prove their value and solidify positions. While many have dropped off and out of contention, a ton of others are remaining completely unnoticed throughout this entirely-too-long process. Now however is where rubber meets the road, when new general manager Bob Quinn’s front office and the Detroit Lions coaches get together to cut this group down to a 53 man active roster.
After starting somewhat slow in the first few weeks, the team as a whole stood out loudly in an emphatic 31-0 blowout of the Buffalo Bills on Thursday. Making these decisions that much harder for the Lions braintrust in the coming days.
During this whole process our staff has been working around the clock, evaluating talent and getting the best information that we can on what Lions HQ is thinking.
Our 2016 Detroit Lions final 53 man roster prediction:
QB (2): Stafford, Orlovsky
RB(5): Abdullah, Riddick, Zenner, Washington, Burton(FB)
WR(5): M. Jones, Tate, Boldin, T.J. Jones, Roberts
TE(3): Ebron, Charles, Quarless(SUSP)
OL(9): Decker, Rieff, Warford, Tomlinson, Swanson, Glasgow, Ola, Dahl, Lucas
DL(10): Ansah, Taylor, Gillberry, Copeland, Zettel, Ngata, Walker, Robinson, Reid, Thornton
LB(6): Levy, Whitehead, Van Noy, Bynes, Williams, Bostic(IR)
S(5): Quinn, Bush, Wilson, Carey, Killebrew
CB(5): Slay, Lawson, Diggs, Bademosi, Carter
STs(3): Muhlbach, Prater, Martin
Offense: 24 Defense: 26
Who Didn’t Make Our Roster:
Jake Ruddock, Corey Robinson, Jace Billingsley, Cole Wick, and newcomer Brandon Thomas were the top 5 misses for the DetroitLionsPodcast.com writers. Not one writer voted to keep 2015 fouth round pick Gabe Wright. Instead almost unanimously calling for preseason standout Khyri Thornton to take the tenth and final defensive line spot.
We also viewed that there will be plenty of changes even after a 53 man roster is created, as Jon Bostic will be placed on the IR and Andrew Quarless begins his two game suspension. Opening up two spots for recently cut players to hop back on immediately following the Saturday deadline. Hopefully some of those top cuts manage to make it back to the roster for even a short stay during the regular season.
We Wanted Your Input
Going back a few days we opened up voting to fans of the DetroitLionsPodcast.com to cast your votes and compete against the writers to see if you could predict a better roster. Thank you to all those who contributed via Reddit and gave us your predictions. Please check them out if you have time and see which Redditor you believe made the best prediction. Also, thank you to all those fans that sent out predictions over other platforms for participating, we had a great turnout and there is a great community to thank for all the support.
Here Is The Reddit Prediction:
QB (2): Stafford, Orlovsky
RB(5): Abdullah, Riddick, Zenner, Washington, Burton(FB)
WR(5): M. Jones, Tate, Boldin, T.J. Jones, Roberts
TE(3): Ebron, Wick, Quarless(SUSP)
OL(9): Decker, Rieff, Warford, Tomlinson, Swanson, Glasgow, Ola, Dahl, Thomas
DL(9): Ansah, Taylor, Gillberry, Copeland, Zettel, Ngata, Walker, Robinson, Reid
LB(6): Levy, Whitehead, Van Noy, Bynes, Williams, DiManche
S(5): Quinn, Bush, Wilson, Carey, Killebrew
CB(6): Slay, Lawson, Diggs, Bademosi, Walls, Carter
STs(3): Muhlbach, Prater, Martin
Offense: 24 Defense: 26
Small Differences Between The Rosters
The Reddit consensus is very similar outside of a few factors. Our fans are still super high on Cole Wick, having him beating out Orson Charles for a tight end spot. Brandon Thomas makes the roster over Cornelius Lucas, and Bostic is dropped in favor of new guy on the block, DiManche. The secondary gets the extra man over the d-line with the retention of Darrin Walls. Sorry this wasn’t sexier, you did this to yourselves. We will see who is closer, both groups will probably be wrong in one way or another- that’s just how these things work.
In the end however, these similarities are rather consistent across most people in the know. Makes you feel that the depth of the roster is better then it has ever been, and that can only mean good things for the upcoming season.
