Allen Park — Three days after establishing the team’s initial 53-man roster for the 2026 season, the Detroit Lions tweaked things for a second time, waiving center Seth McLaughlin and running back Jabari Small on Wednesday.
The moves open up two roster spots, which weren’t immediately filled by the team.
The logic behind the releases are tied to injuries for both players. McLaughlin had been in concussion protocol since last week, while Small exited Saturday’s preseason finale with an unidentified injury.
Had the Lions waived the players during roster cutdowns on Sunday, they would have been required to do so with an injury designation. That means both players would have reverted to injured reserve had they cleared waivers.
In that scenario, the Lions likely would have reached an injury settlement with both. When a player and team reach that type of agreement — prorated salary for the agreed length of the recovery period — the player is free to sign with another team immediately. However, they’re unable to re-sign with the original team until the expiration of the injury settlement plus three additional weeks.
In the case of Small and McLaughlin, the injury settlements likely would have been for one or two weeks, but would have prevented them from re-signing with the Lions until October. By allowing them to recover prior to waiving them, they can technically join the team’s practice squad immediately after clearing waivers.
It’s unclear what the Lions intend to do with the active roster vacancies, but an obvious option would be adding another receiver, potentially someone like veteran Tom Kennedy, who can serve as a kickoff and punt returner.
However, the releases left the Lions light at both running back and offensive line. The team had curiously retained five running backs over the weekend, but are now down to three after placing Isiah Pacheco on injured reserve a day earlier.
That leaves only Jahmyr Gibbs, Sione Vaki and Jacob Saylors on the active roster. Notably, Vaki and Saylors have combined for just 12 career touches.
Recently, the Lions had veteran Kareem Hunt in for a tryout. A nine-year veteran who was with the Chiefs last season, he ran for 611 yards and eight touchdowns in 17 games.
Along the offensive line, Detroit is now down to eight bodies, without an obvious backup center behind Juice Scruggs, who is already filling in for injured starter Cade Mays. Without an addition or practice squad elevation for Week 1, right guard Tate Ratledge would likely be the emergency snapper if something happened to Scruggs.
On the practice squad, the team has two additional linemen who have played center in a preseason, Elijah Klein and Mason Miller. In terms of the regular season, Klein, who spent his first three seasons with Tampa Bay, has logged just one start at left guard. Miller, an undrafted signing out of North Dakota State a year ago, has yet to appear in a regular season game.
Sorry for the delay on this news item. Got tied up with some things (read: dinner reservation and podcast recording).
To complete the project, how about we sign Dortch to the 53?😂