The Lions have now cut ties with three of the four players who received gambling suspensions last month. The team handed wide receiver Stanley Berryhill his walking papers Tuesday.
A UDFA who caught on with the Lions last year, Berryhill incurred a six-game gambling ban. While Berryhill’s punishment was not as extreme as the indefinite suspensions—which will last at least one season—given to wideout Quintez Cephus, special-teamer C.J. Moore and Commanders defensive end Shaka Toney, Berryhill will hit the waiver wire.
Jameson Williams is the only gambling policy violator left on Detroit’s roster. The 2022 first-round pick, who joined Berryhill in receiving a six-game suspension, obviously is not at risk of being cut. Berryhill, however, played in four games last season but saw just six offensive snaps. The Falcons signed the Arizona alum as a UDFA; he made his way to the Cardinals’ practice squad in September and landed on the Lions’ P-squad in October.
The Lions have also fired at least three staffers—believed to be a strength and conditioning coach and two equipment managers—for violating the NFL’s gambling policy. Unspecified league employees have also been canned for violating the policy, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes. After decades of dormancy on the gambling suspension front, seven players—also including Calvin Ridley and former defensive back Josh Shaw—have received bans since 2019.
Detroit, which also waived cornerback Mac McCain and defensive lineman Demetrius Taylor, did not draft a wide receiver until the seventh round (North Carolina’s Antoine Green). Josh Reynolds remains on the Lions’ roster, and the team reunited with Marvin Jones—a Lion from 2016-20—in late March. Kalif Raymond, Tom Kennedy, Trinity Benson and 2022 UDFA Maurice Alexander round out the rest of Amon-Ra St. Brown‘s potential supporting cast. The Lions cut McCain with a failure to disclose a physical condition designation, KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson tweets.
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