NFL Roster Cuts 2011: 5 Detroit Lions Who Could Be Released on Tuesday

On Tuesday, 10 Detroit Lions will turn in their playbooks and cease to wear Honolulu blue.

The roster must be cut down to 80 on that day, and many of them had their last bit of playing time with the Lions on Saturday night against the New England Patriots.

Of course, this is the first cut we're talking about. Most of the guys about to be released will fade away without most people even knowing they were on the team in the first place.

But it's not all that compelling talking about the impending release of Montavious Stanley or Gijon Robinson, is it?

So, with that in mind, and the knowledge that the Lions will probably just cut 10 guys that were basically warm bodies in training camp, here are the five most likely players (that matter) who could be cut this Tuesday.

Nate Hughes

Unlike a number of other Lions receivers on the chopping block, Nate Hughes hasn't really had a big-statement game to make the case for remaining on the roster.

He's way, way down the depth chart anyway, and the strong performances by Maurice Stovall and Rashied Davis seem to be making them frontrunners to make the Lions' final roster.

Hughes hasn't stepped up in any particular game and hasn't done anything to make himself stand out from the platoon of Derrick Williams, Tim Toone and Demario Ballard. The difference is that Williams and Toone are Lions draft picks who each had a couple of good plays against New England, which will buy them a few extra days on the team.

Ballard has made some plays in practice, but more importantly, he is 6'6" and has raw talent as a UDFA.

Hughes has none of that, and the Lions are loaded down with receivers. It would make sense that they cut one or two loose Tuesday, and Hughes has to be close to the chopping block.

Zac Robinson

Any magic that might have been lingering from Zac Robinson's strong performance early in the preseason must have worn off by now.

Robinson could make a career out of NFL play, but the Lions are just too good and too deep at quarterback to need him right now. Give me a moment while I try to remind myself that I really, seriously, am talking about the Lions being overloaded with talent at quarterback. Isn't that a sign of the apocalypse? Anyway, Drew Stanton has his faults, but he's a gamer, and he has soundly outperformed Robinson this preseason.

I ultimately think they keep Robinson on the roster as bait to someone who might want to trade for him (think Kevin O'Connell for a seventh-round pick last year), so he probably hangs around until final cuts.

But Robinson is inevitably going to get cut (because everybody knows it, nobody will trade for him), and until he does, he's just taking reps from the guys who are going to play, so they might just end the waiting early and finish camp with only three quarterbacks.

Caleb Campbell

It was a great story when Caleb Campbell re-joined the Lions to realize his dream, having had it ripped away from him after the 2008 NFL draft. But did you even know Campbell was still with the Lions? Have you heard his name once during training camp or preseason?

And if he didn't make the roster last year when the Lions were paper-thin and tissue-soft at linebacker, does he really have any shot against this year's harder, better, faster, stronger group?

With talented studs Cobrani Mixon and Doug Hogue waiting for their shots, where does Campbell fit?

As much as I wish I was wrong, the answer is nowhere. I wish Campbell the best in the future, but this team has passed him by. I have serious doubts regarding whether he'll even make the practice squad at this point.

Dave Rayner

Everybody knows this is coming, but nobody knows when.

Dave Rayner will be kicking somewhere in the NFL this year, but it won't be in Detroit. They have a living legend on the roster, who, at 41, appears to still be one of the best kickers in the league.

The most impressive thing about Hanson is that his long-range game, usually the first thing to go on an aging kicker, is still going strong. He nailed a 46-yard field goal against New England and made it look like a chip shot.

Rayner, on the other hand, pulled a 49-yarder wide left. There's no shame in missing a 49-yard field goal, of course, and that kick isn't the one that's going to send him out of town. The hundreds upon hundreds of kicks Hanson has made since 1992 are what's going to do that.

Of course, moving kickoffs to the 35-yard line helped too. There was some talk of Rayner staying on as kickoff specialist, but Hanson has been kicking as deep as he wants in the preseason, so that's out too.

The simple fact is that Dave Rayner is a great kicker, but the 28-year-old is, even now, inferior to his 41-year-old competition.

I don't know how much longer Hanson will play, but he has earned the right to play out his career the way he wants. And he's not hurting the team by booming 50-yard field goals in the meantime.

Aaron Francisco

Maybe you know the name Aaron Francisco, maybe not.

If you don't know it by now though, don't bother. He'll be out of town by the time the Lions make it to Buffalo.

That has little to do with Francisco himself, though. It's just that he's stuck behind an embarrassment of riches at safety right now.

Ricardo Silva is the latest Lions safety to put himself on the map after a spectacular preseason. It was Randy Phillips last year (though he has since been cut), then Amari Spievey this year and now it looks like Silva, a UDFA out of Hampton University, is stealing some of the spotlight.

His latest act? Jumping the route on Chad Ochocinco and picking off a Tom Brady pass. If not for a fantastic open-field tackle by Wes Welker (which ended up injuring Welker), it was a pick-six just before halftime.

Aaron Francisco, a seventh-year man out of Brigham Young, hasn't done anything I can really pick on him for, but Silva stepping up and challenging for a roster spot just gives Francisco more to look up at. He was already looking up at Spievey, Louis Delmas, Erik Coleman and John Wendling (who will earn a safety spot but pretty much just play special teams).

Jim Schwartz likes Silva, so they might get creative to try and keep him, but it'll be a stretch. And if there's no room for Silva, a rookie and potential budding star, where is there room for Francisco?