The Lions brought in three veteran quarterbacks for workouts on Wednesday, including a former third-round pick and a former Patriots fan favorite

On Monday, Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell was asked if the Lions planned to sign a third quarterback this season and if that guy would be a developmental guy or someone who had been around for a while. Campbell's answer was the latter.

“I would say that we’re looking for somebody that if we need them, we know they can run the show, that they can run the offense, they can process the information,” Campbell said. “I think more than we can find a guy to develop that’s unknown, all of those. I’d rather have somebody that certainly, if we’re familiar with or somebody you just know (if) they get in the game, they’re going to get you in the right play, be smart with the football, and all those things.”

The Lions started following through with that on Wednesday when they had Nathan Peterman, C.J. Bethard, and Malik Cunningham in for workouts.

Peterman has been all over the NFL in his quest to be the next Josh Johnson. He's played for six teams, including the Chicago Bears for two seasons. Peterman is often looked at as a guy who struggles on the field, but keeps getting jobs because he has a great mind for the game. We mentioned earlier this week that the Lions might be on the lookout for someone who was like David Blough. This would be that guy.

Beathard was taken in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft, and he spent four seasons as the 49ers' backup quarterback and spent time with the Jaguars and Dolphins as well. Beathard has started 13 games in the NFL, but he did not play at all in 2024. So he is coming off a year of no football.

The last one is Malik Cunningham. The Lions may show him as a wide receiver on their tryout list, but this guy is a quarterback, too. He was a starter at Louisville in college and then signed with the Patriots and played quarterback there. Cuinnigham was a fan favorite for the Patriots during the preseason. At one point in time, there were insane people who wondered if Cunningham would be the Patriots' starter.

Since then, he's been primarily a receiver in the NFL for the Patriots and Ravens. The Lions probably looked at him as being that, but they probably had him throw some balls too. Speaking of receiver, the Lions also tried out former Bengals receiver Kendric Pryor and Rookie Jerjaun Newton out of Toledo. We'll see if they wind up signing any of these guys.