Detroit Lions Camp Preview: Offense
- DB Keener
- Jul 27
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 28
The Detroit Lions rookies reported on Saturday 7/25/26 and the veterans will report tomorrow (Tuesday 7/27/26), so we thought it would be a good time to take a look at the Lions Offense as they start training camp. We will take a look at the players at each position and put them in the buckets that we think they will end up, as a Starter, Backup or Bubble/Cut/Reserve List. Let’s preface this by saying that any injuries can shale this whole list up immediately, including brining in replacements form the outside.
The (Number) after each position is how many players, we think the Lions will keep at the cut down to 53 to start the season.
Projected Positional Numbers to get to 53
OFFENSE (25)
DEFENSE (25)
STs (3)
Starter: Jared Goff
Backup: Teddy Bridgewater
Backup/Bubble/Practice Squad: Luke Altmyer
Analysis: Jared Goff will be the starter barring injury, and Teddy Bridgewater will most assuredly be his backup. The question will be how well Luke Altmyer plays in the preseason, and whether the Lions plan to keep 3 QBs (instead of 2) on the active roster to start and then slip Altmyer onto the reserve List. We think they will keep three this year.
Starter: Jahmyr Gibbs
Backups: Isiah Pacheco, Sione Vaki, Jacob Saylors
Bubble/Practice Squad: Jabari Small, Kye Robichaux
Analysis: We believe that the top four RBs and the pecking order are set, with Gibbs, Pacheco, Vaki and Saylors. Where it may get interesting, is whether Small or Robichaux show something to push Saylors from backup to bubble, or if an intriguing RB option becomes available prior to the final 53-man roster being set.
Starters: Amon-Ra St Brown, Jameson Williams, Isaac TeSlaa
Backups: Greg Dortch, Tom Kennedy, Jackson Meeks
Bubble/Practice Squad: Cedrick Wilson, Dominic Lovett, Malik Cunningham, Tarik Black, Tay Martin, Lawrence Keys, Lucky Jackson
Reserve List: Kendric Law (IR)
Analysis: The top three, and likely top 4 (including Dortch) are etched in stone. That leaves nine players competing for 2-3 sports in our opinion. We believe that Meeks and Tom Kennedy will take two of those spots as they fill multiple Special Teams and Backup positions (including backup TE with Meeks), which leaves a likely battle between veteran Cedrick Wilson, former draft pick Dominic Lovett, and a bunch of UFL free agents brought in post OTAs battling it out for the final roster spot and likely 2-3 reserve Spots.
Starter: Sam LaPorta
Backups: Tyler Conklin, Brock Wright
Bubble/Practice Squad: Zach Horton, Thomas Gordon and Miles Kitselman
Analysis: LaPorta was not placed on the PUP (although Conklin was) so the last roster spot likely comes down to Brock Wright vs the three Kids (Horton, Gordon and Kitselman), with all four of them between 6’3” to 6’5” and weighing between 250-256 lbs. Our money is on the veteran Wright, who is supremely athletic compared to the others with the UDFA Miles Kitselman getting first dibs on the Reserve List TE spot. Also need to call out that we have Jackson Meeks as WR 6, but he could also be TE 4 as a receiving specialist.
Starters: Penei Sewell (LT) - Christian Mahogany (LG) - Cade Mays (C) - Tate Ratledge (RG) – Blake Miller (RT)
Backups: Larry Borom (OT), Ben Barth (IOL), Juice Scruggs (IOL/C), Miles Frazier (IOL/OT)
Bubble/Practice Squad: Devin Cochrane (OT), Seth McLaughlin (C), Colby Sorsdal (IOL), Michael Niese (IOL), Giovanni Manu (OT), Mason Miller (OT)
Analysis: There are two positional battles that could shake up the depth chart, primarily at LG and then at RT. It’s expected that Blake Miller will be the starting RT and Larry Borom will fill the swing Tackle spot that Dan Skipper had the last few years. The LG battle will come down to Barth, Mahogany, Scruggs and Frazier most likely, with the three that don’t’ win the starting job filling out the backup IOL positions. That leaves former Lion’s draft picks Manu, Sorsdal and Niese along with Cochrane, McLaughlin and Mason Miller battling for likely 2-3 Reserve List spots.
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