The roster changeover on Monday May 12th, cuts and undrafted free agents signed.

The Detroit Lions had a busy weekend FOLLOWING the draft. In the roughly 40 hours immediately following the draft they cut 8 players and signed 12 undrafted free agents. The 8 guys who were cut (to make room on the 90 man roster) were: WR Cody Wilson, LB Jon Morgan, CB Nate Ness, TE Matt Veldman, K John Potter, WR Carlin Isles, C Sherman Carter and S Akwasi Owusu Ansah. All 8 were guys on my estimated depth chart I had down as "fighting for a roster spot". As I said, they also signed 12 undrafted free agents including: QB James Franklin, T Cornelius Lucas, WR Andrew Peacock, CB Mohammed Seisay, S Gabe Lynn, FB Chad Abram, G Alex Bullard, G DJ Morrell, LB Justin Jackson, TE Jacob Maxwell, S Isaiah Newsome and S Jerome Couplin (who I discussed in last night's post). These moves bring the Lions roster to the full 90 members allowed at this point in they year.

Here is some information about each of the undrafted free agents (sans C Isaiah Newsome): http://www.detroitlions.com/news/lions-insider/article-1/TWENTYMAN-Lions-sign-11-undrafted-rookie-free-agents-/a2b45448-9398-422d-ae60-572548e3df66 Now reading the little bit on each player and they all sound great, but each has some issue or other that prevented them from being drafted.

For example LT Cornelius Lucas sounds like a great player for the roster, he was even graded as a possible 5th rounder with a 5.27 40, 36 3/4" arms, and 10" hands. But further research gives us a foot fracture in February of 2014 so he did not do any of the other tests his contemporaries did. He has a very High Pad Level due to his extreme height. His size also creates a problem with offensive tackles known as slow feet. He's deemed a project that may or may not ever learn to get his pad level correct, get his feet moving quickly and correctly, and all the rest that goes with the job. I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere yet, but perhaps he would be able to play left guard in the NFL. I'm sure the Lions coaches will put him through his paces (assuming the foot is healed) and see what he might be able to contribute. More info on Lucas (and there isn't much) may be found at http://www.nfl.com/draft/2014/profiles/luke-lucas?id=2543595

I was going to do an in depth paragraph on each of the undrafted and then go into more details on the drafted players for the Lions, but after many hours of work I still find myself regurgitating the same ole info for the most part. In the interest of not duplicating work and in providing more information then I have so far, here is a page that has a link to a page apiece of each draft pick full of links to articles on each player. Tons of reading material. Plus CaptainBlue of my forum would appreciate her hard work being used I'm sure. The link is http://captainbluelionslinks.blogspot.com/2014/05/detroit-lions-2014-draft-picks-articles.html Once there click on the link for each of the 8 draft picks and you will find a ton of articles on each player.

I have updated my cap chart, and my estimated depth chart, and now my blog. Time for some sleep. Before I go I will leave you with this bit of info, the 2nd fastest DE in the draft? (Clowney was #1) The answer is Larry Webster, one of the Lions two fourth round picks. 4.58 vs 4.53 speed. In fact Webster is faster then Van Noy by a lot (4.71 vs 4.58). The problem is Larry needs to add muscle (lots of it) and he needs to learn the game, he was a basketball player for 4 years then a football player for only 2. He is as raw as you can get and still get drafted. Luckily the Lions don't have to rely on him to start (knock on wood) and they can take the time to teach him his craft, if he can pick it up and execute it.

I'm still compiling info and will keep working on trying to find the obscure info my readers like as I research the changes in the roster.

If only I could convert this math problem into a valid numerical equation I could get rich. What a player was (college career and stats) x what a player is (40 time, Vertical, 3 cone, Hand Size, Arm Length, etc) x what a player projects to be in the NFL (scouting reports and player profiles) = how good of an NFL career a player should have. OF course 32 teams do this already and if they get half of it right they are lucky. Oh well, back to digging and reading and hopefully, writing.