Pro Football Rumors
In stashing two injured starters on the reserve/PUP list, the Lions also made a host of cuts to move down to 53. Here are the moves the two-time reigning NFC North champions made at today’s cutdown deadline:
McNeill is believed to be ahead of schedule, but the standout interior D-lineman will still be stashed on the PUP list — requiring a four-game absence. The Lions lost McNeill to an ACL tear — in their bloodbath of a season on defense — to a Week 15 ACL tear. This came weeks after the Lions and the four-year veteran hammered out an extension. McNeill, who has been pegged as most likely to return around midseason, is signed through 2028.
Rodriguez went down with an ACL tear during the Lions’ Thanksgiving win over the Bears. It was reported previously the young linebacker would be expected to miss regular-season time, and that will come to pass.
The Lions became the extraordinarily rare team to drop down to 50 players on roster-cutdown day, as opposed to the required 53. That will keep options open. The team can bring vested veterans back without the waiver process being involved, and teams occasionally wait until after the vested-veteran guarantee deadline passes in early September to re-sign vested performers to avoid fully guaranteeing salaries.
