With Cuts Looming, LB Jahlani Tavai Underwhelms in Preseason Opener

The eye in the sky rarely ever lies. 

For linebacker Jahlani Tavai, making the Detroit Lions 53-man appears like a long shot after his disappointing debut in the team's preseason loss to the Buffalo Bills. 

Despite being in his third-season, he continuously looks out of place and his errors are oftentimes quite costly for the Lions' defense. 

Against the Buffalo Bills, the 24-year-old linebacker was looking to put positive play on film to get himself quickly off of the roster bubble. 

Instead, his play reaffirmed what many critics have been expressing over the past 24 months -- his time in Motown must come to an end. 

He has earned positive sentiments from the coaching staff for successfully losing weight this offseason, but his lack of awareness and missteps have continued to arise at inopportune times.

“Grit is never an issue for that player. He's got it," Campbell told reporters earlier this week. "That's not the issue with him one bit. It was a great -- look, he popped out (forced fumbles) two of them. It's a great lesson. I tell the defense, (defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn) AG harps on it, nobody wants this to happen, but you give up 500 yards of offense, and they're going up and down the field, but you pop out a couple of balls and it changes the whole game. Even when things don't look good, and you feel like you're in dire straits, if you knock out a couple balls, get a couple of turnovers, you're right there and you're in it. So, just keep going. Just keep going after the ball, the football. It's the great equalizer. That was encouraging. He's been doing a good job though. He's smart. He works at it. Look, we're happy to have him. He's in there competing with the rest of those guys.”

Against the Bills, Tavai was stiff-armed and that led to the Bills offense staying on the field to continue their scoring drive. 

More egregiously, the former second-round pick completely missed picking up running back Devin Singletary out of the backfield, resulting in Buffalo scoring their only touchdown of the evening. 

"Singletary could have moonwalked into the end zone on Tavai’s side of the field, an all-too-familiar sight around these parts," MLive NFL writer Benjamin Raven noted in his recap of the Lions' first preseason game.

NFL teams must cut their rosters down to 85 players by Tuesday, August 17 at 4 p.m.