Uzdavinas Was Signed By The Detroit Lions On Monday.
Arturo Uzdavinas grew up in Tampa, Florida with five siblings. He lettered in both football and basketball in high school for the Jesuit High School Tigers. He was rated as the 161st high school offensive tackle in the nation by ESPN as a high school senior. Uzdavinas redshirted his first season at Tulane and primarily played special teams as a redshirt freshman. It was in his third year with the program that Uzdavinas took over a starting role at left tackle and never gave it up. In all Uzdavinas started 36 games for the Green Wave. He graduated from Tulane with a degree in legal studies.
Arturo Uzdavinas’ Professional Career
Uzdavinas signed with the Houston Texans as an undrafted free agent following the 2016 draft. He attended their minicamps and made it all the way to August 29th before he was looking for work again. He found it on the Chicago Bears practice squad on October 24th. Uzdavinas was only in Chicago for a week before he found himself on the street again. Two weeks later he found his landing spot for the remainder of the season. He was on a practice squad again, this time with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Jaguars signed their new project tackle to a futures contract in January but between then and now he failed to impress their staff enough to stick. He was released on May 1st. On Monday, the Detroit Lions waived OT Pierce Burton to make space for Arturo Uzdavinas.
It is the sort of roster churning that Lions fans have become accustomed to during the Bob Quinn era. There is a long road ahead of Uzdavinas if he hopes to make the active roster for the team. Starters, Taylor Decker and Rick Wagner, are not going anywhere. The backups from last year’s group; Corey Robinson and Cornelius Lucas, are still in place. Last season’s practice squad lineman, Brandon Thomas, is also returning for training camp. In order to make the roster, Uzdavinas would need to jump over two of those players on the depth chart.
Bob Quinn has shown an affinity for intelligent and versatile players on the bottom of his roster. Uzdavinas’ special teams experience in college could be the thing that keeps him employed this fall, as that list of backup tackles is not the league’s most impressive. There is a potential place for this young man in Detroit.
