Ordinarily, the Detroit Lions would assign their Protected Practice Team players on Tuesday, but since they played their game on Monday in Week 2, they are given an additional 24 hour grace period to make that decision.
They have a pretty consistent approach to the protected practice group. Protect the quarterback position, protect the spots that are weak from injury or in need of competition, and use the remaining spots to protect the players they think are the most talented on the practice team.
This week, according to the NFL Transaction Report, the Lions chose to protect the maximum of four players, including three of the same players from Weeks 1 and 2:
- Steven Montez, QB
- Bruce Hector, DL
- Jalen Elliott, S.
- Ryan Santoso, K (New This Week)
Santoso had a solid preseason and this resulted in the Carolina Panthers trading for him on cutdowns. After week 1, the Panthers decided to take a different direction and signed Zane Gonzalez from the Lions training roster. Santoso was inducted into the Lions’ training squad this morning and will compete with active squad kicker Austin Seibert. Time is a flat circle.
As I said last week, you can expect Montez to be protected by the Lions while Tim Boyle is in the casualty reserve. That way, they can ensure that they have three quarterbacks to practice and potentially play.
Hector and Elliot are valuable players to this roster as they can fill multiple roles in defense (including specialty teams for Elliott) and were two of the most demanding cuts in making the 53-man roster.
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