Now that the active rosters are set, the next order of business for Lions GM Brad Holmes and his Detroit staff is formulating the team’s practice squad.
Each team is allowed to have up to 16 players on the practice squad. As many as six of those players can be veterans who are not eligible for waivers. And that’s something the Lions have leaned on under Dan Campbell. Detroit’s practice squads in the last couple of seasons have been a good blend of useful vets capable of being elevated for game duty and promising young players who aren’t yet ready to be on a 53-man roster.
“We love our practice squad, man,” Campbell said earlier this week. “I feel like that’s another one of those things that we’ve done a really good job of here and found guys that fit us and that we can count on really over the last two or three years. I mean, those guys are a big part of what we do.”
Practice squad salaries are variable and not counted as part of the team’s salary cap figure. Players can be elevated twice in a season; any further activations would require them to be signed to the active 53-man roster.
Here’s how the Lions practice squad will look to start the 2025 season.
Players coming back
OT Dan Skipper
DE Isaac Ukwu
WR Tom Kennedy
OL Michael Niese
S Loren Strickland
DL Myles Adams
RB Jacob Saylors
DB Erick Hallett
OL Mason Miller
WR Ronnie Bell
DL Keith Cooper
TE Zach Horton
New to Detroit