Pride of Detroit
Making predictions for the final roster spots on the Detroit Lions offense after Week 1 of training camp.
With the first week of Detroit Lions training camp in the books, we’ve already started to see the team’s roster bubble shift. When we opened our Bubble Watch predictions last week, we assumed there were 40 players who were safe. That number has already dropped a few to 37. In other words, due to competition and some injury news, the Lions roster bubble is growing.
Over the weekend, the Pride of Detroit staff updated their predictions for the last few 2025 Lions roster spots. Here’s a look at our offensive predictions and how things shifted from last week.
After a pretty solid start to training camp, Hooker retains a strong lead on the backup job. That said, Allen was actually the backup on Day 1 of camp and has done a pretty nice job throughout practice as well. That wasn’t enough to earn any votes, but Thursday’s preseason game could shake things up.
As of now, there are no apparent roster spots available at running back. But if Vaki’s injury drags on longer, that could theoretically drop him to the roster bubble, as someone who could start the season on IR. It’s too premature for that now, though.
It was a strong first week of camp from all of the rookie receivers, so it makes sense that our staff is defaulting to the Lions’ seventh-round pick over the UDFAs. Ronnie Bell has flashed plays here and there, but he’s regularly repping with the third-team defense, so he’s got some work to do to earn any votes back.
Zylstra has consistently repped higher, played better, and found himself in various roles through the first week of training camp compared to his competition. I’m still intrigued by Horton, but Zylstra’s got a steady lead right now.
Even though Manu had an up-and-down start to his second training camp, we aren’t putting him on the bubble this early in his career. As a result, that likely leaves only one tackle job open, and...
