The NFL’s roster deadline came and went more than two hours ago, yet Detroit Lions fans are still waiting.
As of 8:30 p.m. ET Sunday, the Lions are one of just six NFL teams that have not publicly released their initial 53-man roster. The league deadline to reduce rosters to 53 players was 6 p.m. ET, so what exactly is taking Detroit so long?
First, an important distinction: the Lions did not miss the NFL deadline.
The 6 p.m. deadline required teams to make the necessary transactions to get their roster down to the league limit. It did not require every organization to publicly publish its complete 53-man roster at 6:01. The NFL itself tracks roster moves as they are announced by teams or reported by league insiders.
So this appears to be about how Detroit is handling the process, not whether the Lions completed it on time.
Dan Campbell May Be Taking His Time With the Players
The most logical explanation came Sunday evening from Lions reporter Nolan Bianchi, although he was careful to label it speculation.
Bianchi pointed out that Detroit faced an unusually tight turnaround after playing its preseason finale Saturday afternoon. With dozens of decisions needing to be finalized less than 24 hours later, Bianchi suggested Dan Campbell may want to personally speak with every player being released before the organization makes the entire roster public.
If that is what is happening, it would certainly fit Campbell.
He acknowledged before Saturday’s preseason finale against the Indianapolis Colts just how difficult this particular roster reduction would be. Campbell said Detroit had a deep group of players and knew some of the players it released could immediately help other NFL teams.
There were plenty of difficult calls.
Detroit has already reportedly moved on from players such as Greg Dortch, Luke Altmyer, Nick Whiteside, Trayveon Williams, Mason Miller, Myles Adams and Troy Reeder, while players including Tay Martin, Jackson Meeks and Skyler Gill-Howard have reportedly made the roster.
Several of those decisions differed from our final Lions 53-man roster prediction, which only reinforces how close some of these competitions became.
We also knew entering Sunday that Detroit faced several legitimate roster battles, particularly along the defensive line, at wide receiver and in the secondary.
The Roster Is Coming
Unless something unusual emerges, there is no reason for Lions fans to be concerned about the delay.
Detroit made its cuts. The league has its transactions.
We are simply waiting for the Lions to show us the complete puzzle.
And if the delay really is because Campbell wants to look players in the eye before announcing that their time in Detroit is over, there are certainly worse reasons to make everyone wait a couple of extra hours.
