Making the Call for Detroit Lions' Toughest Remaining Roster Cuts

With the preseason coming to a close, so too are the aspirations of over 1,000 NFL hopefuls who were looking for jobs this season.

This is the cold, heartless nature of the NFL in late August. But it's also business as usual, and the question in everyone's mind is not what Tracy Robertson is going to do after this, it's what the Lions are going to do to make the team better.

Is that cold? Yes, but it's okay. It's not your responsibility as an NFL fan to decry Darwinism at work in training camp. It's sad, and it's tough, but it's the way it's supposed to be when the goal is to field the most elite athletes available.

But there is one man who rarely gets talked about when those final cuts come down: the head coach.

His job is safe in the preseason, but he's on the hook to cause and watch the faces of some 35 crushed dreams in about a four-day span.

Perhaps more importantly, he has to wonder if some of those faces represent the wrong decision. After all, making final roster cuts is a difficult decision simply from a talent evaluation standpoint, to say nothing of the emotional tax.

It is that dilemma that I attempt to tackle today, and I just have to feel thankful that I can do it in the face of a computer screen, and not a devastated 22-year-old who has worked himself to his limits for me for the last month.

Everette Brown

On the plus side, Everette Brown started the season in monstrous fashion, notching 1.5 sacks in limited action.

He has been quiet since then, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's been bad. He seems to fit the scheme, and would probably be a shoo-in if not for the exceptional depth along the Lions' defensive line.

Unfortunately, the Lions have four valuable returners from the 2011 squad and a fourth-round rookie in Ronnell Lewis.

The Lions are mostly healthy at DE, so it wouldn't appear they need to carry six players for depth. Brown would make the roster purely because of his upside, not team need.

But with a dearth of injuries bordering on devastation at RB and CB, it may not make sense to keep two project DEs just because they're afraid to put them on waivers. Brown will almost definitely find his way to another team, but this one may be full.

Verdict: Cut

Patrick Edwards

At one point, Patrick Edwards looked like an absolute heist.

Despite his undrafted status, early in OTAs and minicamps, Edwards caught everything anywhere close to him. He showed basically the same skill set the Lions were looking for in Ryan Broyles, only without the second-round draft pick cost.

So naturally, there was a certain amount of hype surrounding Edwards when it came time for him to get into training camp and preseason.

And, as with many workout warriors, Edwards seemed to fizzle the moment the pads went on. Not that he can't play in pads; he was freakishly productive at Houston, and as I recall, they wear pads in college football.

But whatever the reason, the regression of Edwards through training camp has made whatever initial impression he made look like a mirage, and he hasn't shown any value in special teams. He'll likely need a huge game against Buffalo to make the roster at this point.

Verdict: Cut

Kellen Moore

Honestly, Kellen Moore doesn't resemble an NFL quarterback at the moment.

What he does resemble is a young project who appears to have made notable improvement in just a few weeks. That makes a strong case for Moore, regardless of where his starting point is.

The biggest knock on Moore is what he'll never be able to shake: he's too short and weak-armed for elite QB play. His ceiling is extremely limited.

Of course, if size and arm strength was all it took for a quarterback to succeed, JaMarcus Russell wouldn't be a punchline. It is possible to overcome those physical flaws, but it's nearly impossible to overcome them and still be elite.

But I digress. We're talking about the third quarterback spot, not Moore's chances at supplanting Matthew Stafford and setting the league on fire.

Ultimately, Moore may make the roster simply because the Lions don't feel secure enough to go with only two quarterbacks. Stafford's phantom hand injury against Oakland might have been the wake-up call in that regard.

But for Moore to justify being the project on the third string, he has to continue to show improvement. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Moore's roster spot likely depends on how he plays against Buffalo.

Verdict: Leaning towards keep, may change pending game vs. Buffalo

Pretty Much All of the Secondary

Chris Houston, Bill Bentley and Jacob Lacey are all in the mix for starting positions in Detroit. But, Houston and Bentley are injured.

Jonte Green, Justin Miller, Alphonso Smith, Ross Weaver and newcomer Kevin Barnes are the remaining options, and none of them have distinguished themselves consistently. In other words, nobody is safe.

At safety, there is the injured Louis Delmas, with Erik Coleman, John Wendling, Amari Spievey, Ricardo Silva and even Reshard Langford available.

Pending health, Delmas and Coleman look like starters and are safe from cuts. Wendling has developed into a strong player and will make the team as well, but the Lions took only four safeties total last season, which means Silva, Spievey and Langford are fighting over the final spot.

This is perhaps the only unit in which the Lions are less concerned with who to cut, and more concerned with how to actually build a functional unit with what they have available. There are about seven players going for roughly four spots, and decent justifications for all of them, from veteran depth to upside to special teams play.

Ultimately, though, factoring in a Lions' commitment to draft picks and trades, it is most likely to shake out like this, unless someone really messes up against Buffalo:

CB: Green, Smith and Barnes make the team, Weaver and Miller cut

S: Spievey makes the team, Langford and Silva cut 

Graham vs. Donahue

Neither Ben Graham nor Ryan Donahue has been a model of consistency at punter in the preseason, but both have been solid.

To call it right now, Donahue has a slight edge in overall distance, while Graham has the advantage in placement. In other words, Donahue can kick it farther, but Graham is more likely to down a punt inside the 20-yard line.

Graham played the first half against Oakland, and laid up some very good punts that were covered extremely well, but Donahue punctuated his preseason with a punt that traveled over 50 yards before bounding out at the two-yard line.

The biggest problem Graham may run into is his age. Donahue is a second-year player who had taken the starting job away from longtime incumbent Nick Harris (albeit only because of salary discrepancies), and the only reason Graham made it to the Lions in the first place is because Donahue was injured.

But we're talking about punters, here. No matter who they choose, if something were to happen health-wise, there's a reasonable chance that the Lions could just get the other guy back. Especially, if the other guy is in his late 30s.

Because of that, I give the nod to the big-legged youngster. For now.

Verdict: Keep Donahue, cut Graham but keep his number handy