The Lions are paring their roster ahead of Tuesday's deadline to submit their 53-man roster, which made Tyrell Crosby a surprise casualty on Monday.
The dependable offensive lineman, who spent the past three seasons in Detroit after being drafted in the fifth round in 2018, was cut Monday morning in a move that few saw coming. His departure saves Detroit about $2.1 million in cap room this season.
"We didn’t feel like he was one of the best guys," Dan Campbell said after announcing the news.
Crosby started 11 games for Detroit last season at right tackle -- a position the club expected to be manned by free agent acquisition Halapoulivaati Vaitai -- and held up well. He generally did his job for the Lions whenever called into action, a valuable trait on the offensive line.
But Detroit is moving in a new direction under GM Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell. The Lions tried trading Crosby this offseason and never seemed to view him in their long-term plans. Their starting offensive line entering the season, from left to right, consists of Taylor Decker, Jonah Jackson, Frank Ragnow, Vaitai and seventh overall pick Penei Sewell. Should one of them get hurt -- or underperform in the case of the rookie -- Crosby won't be there to step in.
The Lions also waived backup tackle Dan Skipper and backup guard Evan Heim on Monday, along with WR's Victor Bolden and Damion Ratley, CB Mike Ford, S Alijah Holder and DT Miles Brown. They also released WR Breshad Perriman after signing him for $2 million guaranteed this offseason.
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Campbell noted that more subtractions -- and likely waiver-wire additions -- are coming on Tuesday as the Lions piece together their final 53.
"Some guys that are going to be on our team aren’t even in the building yet," he said. "That’s probably going to happen. There’s a good chance that can happen. Look, Brad and his crew are scouring the transactions and looking for everything that could or couldn’t be. And any way that we can upgrade our roster that we think is going to help us, now and long-term, we’re looking for it. So this thing is in-flux."
Campbell also announced Monday that backup quarterback Tim Boyle, who signed a one-year, $2.5 million deal with Detroit this offseason, broke his thumb in the preseason finale and is undergoing surgery to fix it. The timetable for his return isn't yet clear.
"He may be out for a while, but we don’t know how long that’s going to be," Campbell said. "They couldn’t give us an exact – it was one of those, ‘Hey, it’s two weeks to a freakin’ year.’ Like, what the hell? But look, he’s tough as nails. He’s everything that we’re about. I respect the hell out of him. He’ll get this fixed and come back ready to go whenever that is.”
Boyle's injury means the No. 2 QB job belongs to David Blough, if he hadn't claimed it already.