Lions head coach Dan Campbell says Tuesday’s final roster cutdown day will be a whole lot different than it was his first year in Detroit.
Campbell, who arrived in Detroit in 2021, said that year’s roster had a lot of holes on it, and they were scrambling to find enough good players for the 53-man roster.
“It’s changed significantly,” Campbell said. “Shoot, in ’21 we were — I mean we were wide open, literally wide open. You had an idea that [Penei] Sewell was gonna make it, we drafted him 7 overall, you have an idea on some of these guys, but there was a whole roster full of, ‘We have no idea, we don’t know who’s gonna be the next receiver, we don’t know linebacker position, the D-line.’ It was wide open.”
Campbell said Lions General Manager Brad Holmes has brought in so much talent that this year, the Lions have more than 53 good players and will be cutting guys who catch on and contribute elsewhere.
“Now here we are and you feel like you’ve tied down most of these spots and we’re going to have to let go of some good players that I think ultimately can play in this league at some point, and that’s a hard thing to do,” Campbell said. “But it also shows where our roster is at to this point. It’s grown a ton. Brad has done a hell of a job.”