Pat

O'Connor

Montgomery was trending toward a return after being a full participant in practice all week. The thunder to Jahmyr Gibbs’ lightning will officially be good to go for Saturday’s game, with a right to host the NFC Championship Game on the line. Montgomery averaged 15.8 touches per game during the regular season and should see plenty of work against a Commanders defense that has struggled to slow opposing ground games. In addition to Montgomery, the Lions also listed CB Ennis Rakestraw as questionable for Saturday’s game while ruling out guard Kevin Zeitler (hamstring) and DE Pat O’Conner (calf).

O’Connor was re-signed by the Buccaneers earlier this offseason but won’t be joining the 53-man roster in Week 1 against the Vikings. O’Connor has spent the last five seasons with the Buccaneers and could find another special teams gig in the coming days.

O’Connor primarily contributes on special teams but could carve out a small role along a defensive line with numerous question marks on the team’s depth chart heading into the NFL Draft. Entering his sixth professional season, O’Connor has played just 248 defensive snaps.

He was non-tendered as an RFA earlier in the offseason. O’Connor has played 146 defensive snaps in four seasons with Tampa, but adds value on special teams. He played 93% of Tampa’s special teams snaps in 2021.

The 28-year-old will head to the open market after playing 45 snaps on defense last season, registering a half-sack. The former seventh-rounder has 1.5 sacks in his career.

O’Connor secured 19.5 sacks during his career. He is a two-time team captain, but O’Connor missed the entire 2015 season due to injury. The team added a late round edge rusher in the sixth-round (Jeremiah Ledbetter) and the seventh-round, with O’Connor. He tested in the 36th percentile.