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Jacksonville Jaguars safety Daniel Thomas (20). Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Lions Signing Veteran Safety, Special Teams Ace

Originally posted on Detroit Lions on SI
By Christian Booher | Last updated Aug 27, 2025 8:08 AM ET

The Detroit Lions have made an addition to the roster.

Mere minutes after the news of the team’s decision to trade Tim Patrick surfaced, reports indicate that the team is signing free agent safety Daniel Thomas. With the signing, the Lions’ roster currently stands at 50 players. Ironically, the Lions traded Patrick to Thomas’ former team, the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Detroit elected to keep just two true safeties on their roster at the cutdown deadline in Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph. Veterans Rock Ya-Sin and Avonte Maddox have both seen some time at the position during training camp.

The team elected to part ways with three other options at the position in Loren Strickland, Ian Kennelly and Morice Norris.

Thomas has appeared in 71 games, all with the Jacksonville Jaguars, since entering the league as a fifth-round pick in the 2020 NFL draft out of Auburn. He has made four starts, and has played primarily on special teams.

To this point in his career, Thomas has totaled 71 combined solo and assisted tackles, logged two passes defensed and one interception, which came in his rookie season.

In his four seasons, Thomas has played 1,184 special teams snaps, which has been appealing to the Lions’ coaching staff.

Thomas was released by the Jaguars Tuesday as part of the NFL’s roster cutdown deadline. Teams were forced to trim their training camp rosters down to a maximum of 53 players, though Detroit elected to go even further by keeping just 50 active players at the deadline.

More: Detroit Lions Must Learn From 2023 Draft Busts

Free agent safety Daniel Thomas is signing with the #Lions today, per source. Former Jacksonville special teams ace was released by Jaguars this week.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) August 27, 2025

In four seasons at Auburn, Thomas totaled 199 combined tackles, three fumble recoveries, eight passes defensed, 10 tackles for loss and five interceptions.

Lions coach Dan Campbell explained the difficulty of some of the final decisions on the roster during his press conference on Monday. He noted that some players had strong practices, but that production had not shown up in the preseason games.

“You’re going to take the totality of it. I know for me, that’s big. I want to know start to finish, what did it look like? Was there constant improvement? Do you feel and see development through that time? I think where that would be a little bit – OK, man, the practices look really good, I see that, but all four of these games have not been good," Campbell said. "That’s an issue. I think that’s an issue, because all of a sudden, the lights are on and we’re in real games and the coach isn’t behind you and there’s no scripts. That could be a little bit concerning. But I think to answer your question, I take it in the whole, from the beginning. From start to where we’re at now, and I think that’s important that you don’t get skewed by just the Houston game. One game. You’ve got to be careful there.”

This article first appeared on Detroit Lions on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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