Detroit Lions Expect to Cut Players Who Will Help Other NFL Teams

The Detroit Lions expect some very tough decisions this week, when head coach Dan Campbell and the coaching staff must cut the roster down to 53-plays by the end of the weekend.

Prior to practice on Wednesday afternoon, Campbell was asked if the decisions upcoming are the toughest he has had to make, and if that means general manager Brad Holmes met the goal of adding competition at several key spots this offseason and at training camp.

“It's certainly up there. It would be up there if not some of the hardest decisions that we've had to make. Yeah, Brad's done an unbelievable job," said Campbell. "I mean, he's done that every year, man. He continues to do a great job. He and his staff, they're just their grinders, man. They grind. And not everybody does it like he does it. And that's the fact of the matter. You can say what you want, but he's on it and the staff gets after it. (Assistant general manager) Ray (Agnew, Jr.) and all of them.

"They put in a lot of hours, a lot of hard work, and the byproduct is what you see out there. A lot of competition, a lot of good players," Campbell added. "And we're going to have to let go of some guys that are going to be able to go to other rosters and make some waves. That could happen. That's real and that's hard to do. But yeah, this is going to be hard, man, on Sunday.”

A few players that could find landing spots elsewhere include lineback Joe Bachie, defensive lineman Ben Stille, defensive lineman Chris Smith and running back Sione Vaki.

Scaled back practice

After a productive practice on Tuesday afternoon, Campbell made the decision to scale back the intensity of practice on Wednesday.

“We're going to back down a little bit today, just kind of get a little recovery and then tomorrow we'll do what we were going to do today," said Campbell. "They were humming yesterday in a good way. So, just trying to be smart and then we'll pick up where we left off.

"But we'll get them moving out there today. It's been good so far. It's hard to believe it's almost over, but that's where we're at.”

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