3 Surprise Cuts the Lions could make during training camp

AtoZ Sports

Mike Payton discusses which three Detroit Lions could be on the chopping block during NFL training camp!

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00:00With Detroit Lions training camp starting next week, we have three players who could be surprise

00:04cuts when it's all said and done. Let's talk about it. Hi, it's Mike Payton from A to Z Sports

00:11Detroit. Today we're going to talk about three players who could be surprise cuts by the end

00:15of training camp. Let's jump right into it with Brock Wright. Now we know Wright has been the

00:20tight end two for this team for a few years, kind of has a propensity to have this big play once a

00:25year. Everybody loves Brock, decent pass blocker, okay run blocker. The thing is maybe the guys that

00:33they got this offseason could be better at what Brock's specialty is supposed to be. And I'm

00:39looking in the direction of Kenny Yeboah, who's a really good pass blocker, strong run blocker,

00:43can be a pass catching tight end, or at least he showed that in college that he has that ability

00:48to do that. Hasn't really done that in the NFL yet. And then I'm looking at Zach Horton, who's a guy I

00:53think is going to make the roster anyways, mostly just based off that he may be the best run blocking

00:58tight end on this team right now. And he's just a rookie and I'm saying he's better than Laporte.

01:02He's better than Wright, Yeboah, Zylstra, all these guys and really good pass blocker too.

01:07But I think the thing that kind of makes him edge other guys out is he has the ability to play full

01:12back as well, which the Lions don't have and probably don't want to really have on their roster

01:18per se. They probably don't want to take up a roster spot with a fullback and they probably don't want to

01:23use Malcolm Rodriguez or Grant Stewart in that position if they don't have to. And here's a

01:28guy that prevents them from doing that. Now it's going to take both Yeboah and Horton to really show

01:34up this summer to get Brock Wright out. But if that happens, I don't be surprised if Brock Wright's no

01:40longer with the team or gets kind of demoted down to the practice squad. The next guy is wide receiver

01:45Kalief Raymond. I love Kalief Raymond. You love Kalief Raymond. Everybody loves Kalief Raymond. But

01:50at the same time, it's very obvious that last year the Lions kind of channeled him out of their

01:56offense. He did spend some time on the injured reserve. That's fine. But even when he was on the

02:01field, they just really didn't have him do much offensively like he had in 2023, 2022 or 2021. He

02:09was a much bigger part of the offense. But last year was the least he had ever done offensively.

02:15And I think a large part of that is because they brought in Tim Patrick and he kind of became their

02:19wide receiver three. And they really wanted to have Kalief focus on being that return man on special

02:25teams and punts and kicks and all that. But now you look at it and he's even deeper on the depth

02:31chart because there's Amin Ross A. Brown, there's Jamison Williams, there's Tim Patrick, as we mentioned

02:37before, there's Isaac Tesla. That's kind of pushes Kalief down. And then there's seventh round pick

02:42Dominic Lovett. That's what the Lions want him to be. That special teams gunner, that return man type of

02:48guy. If he can come into camp and show that he's ready to do that now, and as opposed to later,

02:54that's going to kind of make them look twice at Kalief Raymond and say, well, he's a free agent

03:00next year. Why don't we let him go play somewhere else? I think it's a real possibility. I think it's

03:04one that you got to pay attention to and we'll see what happens there. The last one is DJ Reader. Now

03:09he's probably the safest guy on this list that we have. But when you look at it, the Lions can save

03:15about $11 million if they were to let him go. That'll help during the season with in-season

03:20transactions and all the things that the Lions want to take care of. It'll also help with the

03:25big contract that we're still waiting to see Aiden Hutchinson get. But then you kind of look at that

03:29defensive line. It's really deep. It's Roy Lopez, Levi Anzarike, and Tyleek Williams, and then

03:36eventually Ali McNeil will come back. Makai Wingo's there. There's a really good set of guys there that

03:42you think, hey, maybe you could save a little bit of money. And DJ's kind of been trending downward

03:47in the way that he's been playing lately. What if we kind of cut our losses at the end of camp,

03:52save some money, and went with one of these younger guys? It's a possibility. Like I said,

03:56I think he's the safest guy on this list. But kind of galaxy braining out there, that's what I think

04:00is a possibility. Let me know what you guys think about these three players in the comments,

04:06and we'll see you next time.

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