The Canadian Football League has an interesting tool for player acquisitions that could impact one current Lions player and several former Lions in 2025.

CFL clubs are permitted to acquire the exclusive Canadian rights to active NFL players. The negotiation list only comes into effect if the player decides to pursue the CFL instead of the NFL. Oftentimes, being listed on the CFL negotiating list means absolutely nothing other than a secondary option for an NFL player, but it can produce some interesting choices for players who are on the fringes of NFL rosters like Detroit’s. The nine CFL franchises can place up to 45 players each on their negotiation list.

The only current Lions player whose CFL rights are claimed (as of July 5th) is running back Anthony Tyus. The undrafted rookie from Ohio University is likely poised to battle for a practice squad spot in Detroit behind the foursome of RBs that return from a year ago (Gibbs, Montgomery, Reynolds, Vaki). Tyus is from Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers claimed Tyus’s CFL rights.

Wideout Antoine Green is the most notable other name. Green was a seventh-round pick by the Lions in 2023 and had a good chance to carve out a bigger role for himself in 2024 before suffering a serious brain injury in a preseason game last summer. The Lions waived Green with a “failed physical” designation after the 2025 NFL Draft, following a year where the big receiver from North Carolina was on the Lions’ injured reserve.

Green is one of two former Lions whose CFL rights are claimed by the Saskatchewan Rough Riders. The other is a blast from the past: Defensive end Austin Bryant. A fourth-round pick by the Lions in 2019, Bryant played 33 games in four seasons with Detroit, bagging 4.5 sacks–all in 2021. He was last with the 49ers in 2023.

Linebacker Abraham Beauplan, who played 45 snaps on Detroit’s special teams in 2024, and safety Brady Breeze are former Lions whose rights are claimed by the Calgary Stampeders. Quarterback Adrian Martinez, a training camp aspirant in 2023 who is currently on the New York Jets’ 90-man roster, is claimed by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Martinez won the 2024 UFL Most Valuable Player award as a member of the Birmingham Stallions.

The CFL list is a fluid one, so changes could come frequently between now and NFL roster cutdowns in late August.