Congratulations, you’ve made the team

By Os Davis  |   Monday, August 25, 2008  |  Comments( 5 )

Detroit Lions
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Though the 2008 Detroit Lions ultimately have so little depth on the 80-man roster that the shaping of the 53 for Opening Day is loaded with no-brainers, let’s take some time today to congratulate a few players’ informal cracking the roster thanks to some excellent play in the preseason. Kudos from RealFootball365.com to the following, who have recently bought themselves some more time with the Lions.

Gerald Alexander. Call it the déjà vu pick: After getting selected a bit high in the second round of the 2007 draft, Alexander turned a decent training camp performance into a starting bid when penciled-in No. 1 Daniel (Never Mind The) Bullocks went down for the year in preseason. All Alexander did was play every game while running up 81 tackles and two interceptions. This year, Bullocks has yet to play in the preseason because of injury and reportedly Alexander will be taking the field at free safety on Opening Day. Gee, this guy might make quite the NFL career out of playing “backup.”

Jerome Felton and Sean McHugh. Neither is too much of a surprise here, though surely very few outside the greater Michigan area could easily identify either Lions fullback. On a team featuring fullbacks who block first, second and third, Felton (in addition to McHugh) recently earned the public praise of head coach Rod Marinelli for his work in this preseason; heck, not only could the fifth-rounder out of Furman sooner rather than later go down as a nice draft-day steal, he may single-handedly restore Motor City Kitties fans’ faith in the whole draft process itself. Meanwhile, TE/FB McHugh will be sticking around for at least one more year by default alone, though his versatility may yet see him making this list again in 2009 – albeit as Felton’s backup. (Think ESPN.com will have a profile picture for poor Felton by then?)

Andre Fluellen. What’s this? Another solid pickup by Detroit in the 2008 draft? Nah: Another great pickup, with homers and pundits alike admiring Fluellen's play enough to put him in contention for this season’s defensive rookie of the year. Good for the Lions, because these guys are still hurting for bodies on the defensive line.

Kevin Smith. Incredible but true: Another perceptive and excellent draft pick in 2008. Not only did third-rounder Smith cement the starting role on the Lions, he gave the Lions a rare No. 1 on SportsCenter’s plays of the day with Cleveland Browns" target="_new">his 35-yard run against the Cleveland Browns in preseason Week 3. (Who says these games don’t matter?) Right about now, the starting spot at halfback that was Tatum Bell’s may have in fact been lost, despite the man’s “positivity” regarding his new offensive coordinator and his sub-1.5 yards per carry average this preseason. The only thing Smith has shown difficulty in thus far has been getting around dearly departed Shaun Rogers, who stuffed Smith in three attempts for a total zero yards gained.

Dave Rayner. In competing to (some day) take the job from Jason Hanson, the highest-scoring Lion of all time and roster member since 1992, Rayner went 4-of-4 on field goal attempts and kicked in another two on PATs for 14 fantasy points – did you have him on your preseason fantasy team? – plus one heck of a career day for a guy now on his sixth team in four years. (Again, who says these games don’t matter?) Think Hanson’ll be watching his back this season? You bet. Ah, the low-stress life of the NFL placekicker.

Drew Henson. How’d you like that early game shot of Henson on the sideline, eh, Lions fans? Sorry, what’s that? You were resuscitated when? Oh, sorry to hear that. But don’t panic: Henson was reportedly only brought aboard as a roster-placeholder for Drew Stanton, the 2007 second-round QB who’s promised to show promise but has suffered crippling injuries throughout his short career. Stanton is currently, um, injured. Henson was last seen – if that’s the correct word here – leading the Rhein Fire back in 2006 before getting benched prior to the playoffs, a reasonable step in his career. After a mediocre showing for the Dallas Cowboys in 2004, he eventually bounced down to Minnesota Vikings practice squad QB before the Lions picked him up just now.

And consider that it all might have been worse. Thanks to the emergency signing, steadfast Detroit beat writer Tom Kowalski revealed that “Back in 2003, Detroit Lions president Matt Millen was going to draft University of Michigan quarterback Drew Henson...” Now imagine the quarterback controversy: Harrington vs. Henson. Or, worse yet, the Harrington era followed by the Henson era. Or vice versa.

Even more queasily, the truth is that Henson will most likely see quality time in preseason Week 4 against the Buffalo Bills. Just remember, Detroit fans: These games don’t matter.
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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