Lame No. 2 quarterback option for the Lions has been brought back to light

For all intents and purposes, the battle to be the Detroit Lions' No. 2 quarterback ended during the second-to-last preseason game. Kyle Allen played well again, while Hendon Hooker mostly struggled again. Head coach Dan Campbell said it too.

"Yeah, I mean, he’s playing better, he’s playing better", Campbell said. "So I would say that right now, if you’re saying – if you had to go in with the (no.) two right now, ‘Who would you trust more?’ Yeah, I would trust Kyle more because he’s proven more after these two games. But I’m still – we’re still going to coach (Hendon) Hooker up. We’re still going to see what’s there and see if we can get him better. I mean, we still got a little bit here.”

The Lions' path forward with Hooker is easy to speculate about, but it's tough to know what they will do until they do it as roster cuts loom. Keeping him as the third quarterback on the 53-man roster seems pointless, and risking exposing him to waivers is really no risk at all.

Allen is basically locked in as Jared Goff's backup, but a late pivot as other options become available isn't completely out of the question. That could manifest itself in a trade, or signing someone who is cut.

Uninspiring Lions' QB2 option has been brought back to light

The Cleveland Browns, for better or worse, have a surplus of quarterbacks. Keeping four on their 53-man roster going into the season seems to be on the table, but it's also not very practical. There should be an odd-man out, and it won't be Week 1 starter Joe Flacco.....or either of the two rookies they drafted in April.

With that in mind, Mark Powell of FanSided has the Lions as a potential landing spot for Browns quarterback Kenny Pickett.

"Pickett may be the opposite of Hooker. He isn't afraid to use his legs because he doesn't have that extensive injury history. He also doesn't turn the ball over because he doesn't take those same chances, for better or worse. Thankfully for the Lions, Jared Goff is as stable as they come. Pickett would more than likely ride the bench and play in a meaningless regular season finale, if at all."

"Still, if Goff were to go down, the Lions would be in far better hands (albeit tiny ones) with Pickett than with Hooker or Allen. Pickett has played meaningful football before, and even took snaps in the Super Bowl for the Eagles."

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Praising Pickett in comparison to Hooker is the definition of faint praise. He also has more career starts (24) in three seasons than Allen does in seven (19), but that would be expected when you were a first-round pick compared to a career journeyman.

Back in late-April, after the draft, Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports proposed a trade sending Pickett to the Lions. Pickett was a lame option to replace Hooker (and Allen) then, and he still is now. Not to mention reports about the end of his time with the Steelers, which say he'd be oil in the water of Dan Campbell's locker room.

If the Lions pivot to a different backup quarterback, the bottom line is this: there are/will be better available options than Pickett, who still carries some name cache' his talent (and personality?) can't back up.

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