Which Detroit Lions Should Remain Part of the Rebuilding Process?
The injuries to core players have started to mount up for the Detroit Lions, especially on the defensive side of the football.
For a team in search of a core group of players that can be part of the organization for many years, losing players like cornerback Jeff Okudah and outside linebacker Romeo Okwara to major injuries sets the plans back, due to the uncertain nature of how they will perform once they return from rehabilitation.
"Luckily, we still have a lot of young guys here that are still in line, that we have a lot of faith in, a lot of hope for and that we know they will grow and we think can become pretty good players in time," Lions head coach Dan Campbell said on Monday. "I mean, shoot, man, look, we still like (cornerback) Bobby Price, man. The kid’s talented, he works his rear off. We just moved him from safety to corner, right before we even started the season. We like him. Look, we like Jerry Jacobs. You’re talking about outside linebacker, we like (Austin Bryant) AB. Charles (Harris) is doing well. I mean, we still have people here that we think can help us, and they have something to work with. Look, my job is to try to get the most out of these guys that are in this building right now. And so, we’re going to do that, but we like a lot of these young guys."
Here is an early exploration into who should remain part of the Lions' organization beyond the 2022 NFL season.
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Quarterbacks
- Jared Goff -- Gone
- David Blough -- Gone
- Tim Boyle -- Gone
Running backs
- D’Andre Swift -- Stays
- Jamaal Williams -- Gone
- Godwin Igwebuike -- Gone
- Jermar Jefferson -- Stays
Fullback
- Jason Cabinda -- Gone
Wide receivers
- Kalif Raymond -- Gone
- Amon-Ra St. Brown -- Stays
- Quintez Cephus -- Stays
- Trinity Benson -- Gone
- KhaDarel Hodge -- Gone
- Tom Kennedy -- Gone
- Tyrell Williams -- Gone
Tight end
- T.J. Hockenson -- Stays
- Darren Fells -- Gone
Offensive linemen
- Penei Sewell -- Stays
- Jonah Jackson -- Stays
- Frank Ragnow -- Stays
- Halapoulivaati Vaitai -- Gone
- Matt Nelson -- Gone
- Logan Stenberg -- Gone
- Evan Brown -- Gone
- Will Holden -- Gone
- Taylor Decker -- Gone
Defensive linemen (6)
- Michael Brockers -- Gone
- Nick Williams -- Gone
- Alim McNeill -- Stays
- Levi Onwuzurike -- Stays
- John Penisini -- Gone
- Jashon Cornell -- Gone
- Da'Shawn Hand -- Gone
- Kevin Strong -- Gone
EDGE (4)
- Romeo Okwara -- Gone
- Charles Harris -- Gone
- Julian Okwara -- Stays
- Austin Bryant -- Gone
- Trey Flowers -- Gone
Linebackers (5)
- Alex Anzalone -- Gone
- Derrick Barnes -- Stays
- Jalen Reeves-Maybin -- Gone
- Anthony Pittman -- Gone
- Josh Woods -- Gone
Defensive backs (10)
- Amani Oruwariye -- Gone
- Bobby Price -- Gone
- Daryl Worley -- Gone
- Jerry Jacobs -- Gone
- A.J. Parker -- Stays
- Corey Ballentine -- Gone
- Tracy Walker -- Gone
- Will Harris -- Gone
- Dean Marlowe -- Gone
- C.J. Moore -- Gone
- Jeff Okudah -- Gone
- Ifeatu Melifonwu -- Stays
Special teams (3)
- Jack Fox -- Stays
- Austin Seibert -- Gone
- Ryan Santoso -- Gone
- Scott Daly -- Stays
