Final Detroit Lions 53-man roster projection heading into 2024 regular season

The Detroit Lions ended their 2024 preseason with a 24-17 win at home against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday. Now the focus shifts to Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET, which is the league deadline to be down to 53 players on the active roster going into the regular season.

Going into the preseason finale, head coach Dan Campbell acknowledged there's only "five or six" spots open on the Lions' 53-man roster. That wasn't a particularly huge revelation, but it was interesting to have him ballpark an exact number. Campbell also acknowledged how there will be some good players the Lions just don't have room for. That is quite a turn from three years ago, when the Lions had nowhere near the roster they have now.

Without further ado, now that this year's preseason is in the books, here is a final 53-man roster projection for the Lions before cut down day.

Final Detroit Lions 53-man roster projection before roster cuts

Quarterbacks (3)

-Jared Goff
-Hendon Hooker
-QB to be named

Campbell has said Nate Sudfeld has a leg up on Hooker in the battle for the No. 2 spot on the depth chart here, which isn't an ideal scenario the Lions should be embracing under any circumstance. Sudfeld also didn't play against the Steelers, prompting Golden Tate, the former Lions' wide receiver working the Detroit telecast as an analyst, to assume he must be the No. 2 quarterback.

With that said, I'm going bold/outside the box to suggest a more credible, experienced backup will be brought in. Then Sudfeld can officially start looking at whatever his next job will be (it shouldn't be taking up a spot anywhere on an NFL roster anymore).

We've seen the Lions make late changes to their depth chart behind Goff before, and they should be open to doing it again if they don't have full faith in Hooker yet.

Running Backs (4)

-David Montgomery
-Jahmyr Gibbs
-Sione Vaki
-Craig Reynolds

The Lions could have a conversation about keeping five running backs. Jermar Jefferson stated his case for that with two touchdowns against the Steelers, and Zonovan Knight would make a lot of other rosters. But I could only get to four here, with consideration for other positions.

Roster Count: 7

Wide Receivers (4)

• Amon-Ra St. Brown
• Jameson Williams
• Kalif Raymond
• Isaiah Williams

Isaiah Williams is easily redundant here, overlapping with St. Brown and Raymond as a slot receiver or return man type. But he undrafted rookie out of Illinois has made it impossible for the Lions not to keep him on the 53-man. He'd never make it through waivers and back to them as a practice squad option.

An addition that fits the description of an "X" receiver could easily happen here between now and Tuesday. Peoples-Jones almost made it by sheer default right now, but his performance against the Steelers (and all preseason) did not warrant that leeway.

Tight Ends (4)

• Sam LaPorta
• Brock Wright
• Shane Zylstra
• Parker Hesse

Having room to keep four tight ends, likely down to finding a way to keep Parker Hesse around, is certainly another possible conversation the Lions' coaches will have before cut day. With the trim to four wide receivers, I got to four tight ends.

Offensive Line (9)

• OT Taylor Decker
• OT Penei Sewell
• C Frank Ragnow
• OG Kevin Zeitler
• OG Graham Glasgow
• OT/OG Colby Sorsdal
• OT Dan Skipper
• OT Giovanni Manu
• OG Kayode Awosika

Depth here, as it is for most teams, is a big concern for the Lions. Manu is not expected to play this year, as he gets a "redshirt" development year as a rookie coming from the University of British Columbia, and since next year's third-round pick was given up to get him in April's draft he'll have a 53-man roster spot no matter what. Undrafted rookie Kingsley Eguakun would be a sneaky candidate to make it here, perhaps at the expense of Awosika or someone at another position.

Rookie guard Christian Mahogany has yet to be taken off the NFI list after he dealt with an illness. Starting the season on the list, and thus not on the 53-man roster, is easily in play.

Roster Count: 24

Defensive Line/EDGE (10)

• EDGE Aidan Hutchinson
• DT Alim McNeill
• EDGE Marcus Davenport
• DT DJ Reader
• DE Josh Paschal
• DT Levi Onwuzurike
• DT Brodric Martin
• DT Mekhi Wingo
• EDGE Isaac Ukwu
• DT Kyle Peko

Pretty cut and dry here. Reader's iffy status for Week 1 keeps Peko around as another interior option. The choice between Ukwu and Mitchell Agude came down to the wire, with Ukwu's strip-sack against the Steelers as the thing that pushed him over the top. James Houston is still the notable cut here, even after a sack against Pittsburgh.

The injury Martin suffered against Pittsburgh is worth monitoring, but he was able to walk off the field under his own power. It appeared to be to his right knee, and after the game Dan Campbell said it's believed to be a minor hyperextension.

Linebackers (5)

• Alex Anzalone
• Jack Campbell
• Derrick Barnes
• Jalen Reeves-Maybin
• Ben Niemann

Niemann started the preseason finale, then did not play anymore pretty quickly. That seems to indicate his roster status is secure. With how the rest of this roster came together, a numbers crunch here makes Malcolm Rodriguez a somewhat surprising cut after he was out due to injury for a big chunk of the preseason.

Cornerbacks (6)

• Carlton Davis
• Terrion Arnold
• Amik Robertson
• Ennis Rakestraw
• Kindle Vildor
• Khalil Dorsey

There's no change here compared to after the second preseason game. And there's no need for any changes, unless Arnold's injury situation is worse than has been let on.

Safeties (5)

• Brian Branch
• Kerby Joseph
• Ifeatu Melifonwu
• Brandon Joseph
• C.J. Moore

Brandon Joseph derailed a little of the momentum he's had all preseason with couple rougher moments in the preseason finale, but I've still got him making it here. C.J. Moore makes it too, sheerly on the strength of his special teams contributions.

Of interesting note here is an injury to Melifonwu, which cost him practice time last week and Dan Campbell could not offer a recovery timeline for after the game against the Steelers. If Melifonwu is turned for the worse (short-term IR?), which we just can't know right now, a roster spot would be opened up.