It's about to get serious. There are still a lot of roster spots up for grabs, and only two preseason games left for everyone to make their case. I focused on seven players when watching the Lions game live, and listed them here: Seven players I want to watch in preseason game one There are a whole lot more that I want to watch closely in tonight's second preseason game, but I'll be paying the most attention to the following three situations: Isaiah Oliver vs Mike Ford vs Dee Alford: I thought Isaiah Oliver resurrected his career as the nickel corner in Dean Pees' system in the early part of last season. And then he got hurt. He missed all of OTAs and minicamp and was still out at the start of training camp. He did participate in the joint practices with the Jets, and I believe we'll see him in action for the first time tonight. Ford has been filling in as the primary nickel in Oliver's absence. I thought his game against Detroit was nothing short of disastrous. He played the entire first half, and I believe he contributed to all three Lions scoring drives. I'm hoping he can redeem himself tonight. Dee Alford announced himself against the Lions with an interception and generally solid play. He's had some time working at nickel since then, including a few rotations with the first unit. Alford was a small school prospect (Tusculum) who went undrafted in 2020 and wound up playing for Winnepeg in the CFL in 2021. He's a prospect, and he's athletic. Will he make the roster or the practice squad? No idea, but he'll be fun to watch. And before we write him off, let's remember that Brent Grimes started out as a no-name prospect from a small school (Shippensburg) who got sent off to NFL-E and then spent most of 2007 on the practice squad. Colby Gossett vs Germain Ifedi vs Justin Shaffer (and others): the roster will probably include at least nine linemen, but there are no guarantees they'll keep ten. I've already tagged Kaleb McGary as hanging on to the starting RT job (yes, that's a link) and both candidates for starting center will end up active on game days. So the swing tackle role has yet to be decided, and there will likely be at least two others who make the roster. Gossett was solid at guard against Detroit. He is capable of sliding out to tackle if needed, but he doesn't have much experience at tackle. Germain Ifedi played right tackle after McGary in the first game. He had one play with particularly poor positioning and footwork that led to a QB hit. But many other linemen also had one bad play (including starting left tackle Jake Matthews and possible swing tackle Rick Leonard). Justin Shaffer played guard with the third unit and also had one poor play that led to a QB hit (and nearly a disastrous nterception). If the team keeps ten linemen, there's room for all three of them and Leonard. If they keep just nine, then someone will be left without a chair when the music stops. I want to see how they all do, and I also want to see if the coaches mix up the positions and get Ifedi snaps at left tackle or Gossett snaps at either tackle position. Parker Hesse vs Keith Smith: the two writers for the team's official web site treat Keith Smith as if he's a lead pipe lock to make the roster. But I tend to think back to Bruce Arians when he was coaching the Cardinals, explaining why he didn't like the dedicated fullback. When you put him on the field, you're limiting yourself to the package of plays for that personnel group. That makes things easier for the opposing defensive coordinator. But if you use a hybrid tight end, you could line him in-line, split him wide, or put him in the backfield as a fullback. Against the Lions, tight end Parker Hesse lined up at fullback twice before Keith Smith entered the game (on the same offensive series). Hesse had a solid game both as a receiver and as a blocker. Tight end prospect John Raine also saw a few snaps lined up at fullback later in the game. So while Keith Smith is a great locker room presence and led the team in special teams snaps played last season, he was on the field for just under 25% of the team's offensive snaps. To me that suggests that he might actually be in danger, even though there are no other players listed at fullback on the roster. Consider that Hesse played more snaps in that first series than Smith (who did not play after that first drive, along with most of the first unit) and played two snaps at fullback compared to Smith's three. I think there's a serious competition going on for that fullback job that the media and TV announcers haven't picked up on yet, and while Smith is officially the starter at that position, Hesse had the better showing against Detroit. This is going to be one to watch very closely. Bonus pick: Auden Tate. I want to see how much he plays and when. I was stunned that I didn't see him on the field against Detroit until the final series of the first half (which was the hurry-up two minute drill). He's one of the experienced players the team signed as a free agent, along with KhaDarel Hodge, Damiere Byrd, Geronimo Allison and the trade for Bryan Edwards. He should be right there with the others in the hunt for a starting role and serious playing time. But... the first offensive series saw Drake London, Hodge, Byrd, Allison and Olamide Zaccheaus all getting action with the first unit offense. That's everyone except Edwards, who was held out while still recovering from an injury in practice, and Tate. Tate still didn't get action in the second offensive series... or the third. He finally came in with Frank Darby for that final series in the first half and the first series of the second half, and then they were replaced by prospects Stanley Berryhill, Tyshaun James and Jared Bernhardt for the rest of the game. He did catch a pass, so he did his job during that game. But still... for Tate to be relegated to true second unit status behind everyone else is a bit of a surprise. And to me it says he's coming into tonight's game on the outside of the roster cuts, needing to show something if he's going to beat out the likes of Allison and Zaccheaus.
And then there is Ridder. I drafted him in fantasy here on L4SN... I think he's going nto be the furure and a good one.
London didn't play. Neither did Isaiah Oliver, though Oliver was a full participant in the joint practices. Grady Jarrett didn't play either, which might have simply been a coaching decision. My "bonus pick" Auden Tate was held out too. I had not heard anything about him getting banged up in the joint practices, so I'm wondering what the story is there. It will be a shame if he's not able to play in the third game and make his case for a roster spot. Though I will add that it's entirely possible that the coaches had already made the decision to release him (since the cuts are due less than 18 hours after the end of the game) and held him out rather than risk getting him hurt and damaging his chances of landing elsewhere. If you figure London and Edwards as the starters and Byrd, Hodge and Zaccheaus as the next three in line after that, there really wouldn't be any playing time available for Tate. It would be a professional courtesy to set him free immediately. So maybe he's banged up, or we might learn later today that he's one of the next five cuts. In his absence, Jared Bernhardt (the only Teewaraton Award winner in the NFL) got playing time with Desmond Ridder on the second unit and had an outstanding game. At this point I'd put him ahead of Tate as well.
The Falcons have reduced their roster to 80 players, letting go of a pair of veteran receivers in the process. Atlanta announced that receiver Auden Tate, receiver Geronimo Allison, defensive back Lafayette Pitts, outside linebacker Kuony Deng, and defensive lineman Jalen Dalton have all been cut. Dalton was waived with an injury designation. Tate signed with the Falcons in March after four seasons with the Bengals. But he did not make any starts and played just seven games last season, finishing the year on injured reserve. After opting out of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Allison spent time on the Lions’ practice squad last year. He appeared in three games and only received a pair of targets. He spent the first four years of his career with the Packers. All teams will have to reduce their rosters to 53 players next week. PFT
Guessed it... It really was a stunner to see Tate not come into the Lions game until the two minute drill at the end of the first half. Gotta say I was surprised that Geronimo Allison was cut too, but I would need to watch the Jets game again in more detail to get a feel for how everyone did before the final preseason game. My guess is that while Allison wasn't terrible, Jared Bernhardt and possibly Cameron Batson had both moved ahead of him in the eyes of the coaching staff. So cutting him now is another case of giving him a better opportunity to land elsewhere rather than wasting everyone's time playing him in the final preseason game with Jacksonville. Give those reps to Frank Darby, KeeSean Johnson and Stanley Berryhill instead and get better evaluations of those three. Pitts had too many players ahead of him even for the practice squad. No surprise there at all. I thought Deng was in the hunt for a practice squad berth, but after the Jets game there were likely six players ahead of him for either a four or five man OLB group, so he was likely out of the running even for the practice squad. I wouldn't be all that surprised if he got signed to the practice squad at some point during the season though. Dalton being waived/injured is a setback, as he was a top contender for a spot in the defensive line rotation. The team has several other up-and-coming prospects competing for those spots, but I still say I want to see the team bring in at least one more veteran to upgrade the entire group. Marlon Davidson is banged up and may miss a few weeks of the regular season, so right now it's all prospects behind Grady Jarrett, Anthony Rush and Ta'Quon Graham, and Rush and Graham are still prospects themselves.
