Lions Camp — Sep 3: Pacheco to Injured Reserve

Running back Isiah Pacheco's Week 1 question got a ruling on Tuesday, and the ruling was injured reserve. The Lions placed him there on September 1, per Justin Rogers at the Detroit Football Network — the sprained knee ligament that cost him the second half of camp plus a back injury, and at least the first four games. Brad Holmes said Wednesday there is no timeline, only that he hopes to get him back at some point this season and that Pacheco is steadily feeling better as he rehabs, per Tim Twentyman at the team's site. Rogers read the timing: Detroit could have put him on injured reserve Sunday and never cut Conklin at all, so waiting until Tuesday "suggests the Lions were waiting on additional information regarding Pacheco's injury." The move that filled his spot reversed a verdict from our last episode. We told you the third tight end job went to Jackson Meeks over veteran Tyler Conklin on special-teams value. Two days after cutting him, Detroit signed Conklin back to the 53, per Rogers and John Maakaron at Lions On SI — a 31-year-old who played 67 of 68 games from 2021 through 2024, per Rogers, rejoining a room of Sam LaPorta, Brock Wright and Meeks for an offense Maakaron expects to lean on two- and three-tight-end sets under Drew Petzing. Both are on the roster now.

Then Wednesday, two more off it: running back Jabari Small and rookie center Seth McLaughlin were waived, per Josh Alper at Pro Football Talk. McLaughlin, whom we told you "still made the 53," lasted three days on it. That leaves Detroit at 51 with two open spots, and Alper suggests receiver as one use for them — the roster carries four, and not much punt-return experience left since receiver Greg Dortch's release, per Christian Booher at Lions On SI. The backfield for the opener, with Pacheco down and Small gone, is Jahmyr Gibbs, Jacob Saylors and Sione Vaki, per Alper.

The waiver wire, for Detroit, was nothing in either direction. The Lions were awarded nobody on Monday's run, per Rogers, who notes the Lions may well have put in claims and been beaten by teams higher in the order. And none of their 24 waived players was claimed — including undrafted rookies Luke Altmyer and Erick Hunter — which is why Holmes could pick the practice squad from his own cuts. Our last episode passed along an expectation that the front office would work the wire or free agency at safety; it did not, and as of Wednesday no safety has been added. 29 players changed teams on that waiver run league-wide, per Rogers. None of them was a Lion.

So the practice squad is Detroit's own people, with one exception. 14 announced Monday, per the team. On offense: quarterback Luke Altmyer, whom we told you was expected back if he cleared — he cleared; offensive linemen Devin Cochran and Mason Miller; tight end Thomas Gordon; and receivers Lucky Jackson and Tom Kennedy, the latter in and out of Detroit's roster since 2019, able to play all three receiver spots and return kicks and punts, per Twentyman. On defense: linebackers Joe Bachie, a six-year veteran his coaches praised in camp for special-teams consistency, and Amen Ogbongbemiga; edge rusher Anthony Lucas; defensive linemen Chris Smith, Ben Stille and seventh-round rookie Tyre West, caught in a numbers game on a deep line, per Twentyman; cornerback Nick Whiteside and defensive back Aamaris Brown. Two more Tuesday, per Rogers: receiver Dominic Lovett, the team's 2025 seventh-round pick, back after clearing waivers, and offensive lineman Elijah Klein, signed off Tampa Bay's cuts — the only man in the group who was not a Lion the week before, a 2024 sixth-rounder with 26 games over two seasons, per Booher. 16 as of Tuesday, by the team's and the beat's announcements.

The cuts that went elsewhere all went by signing, not by claim. Dortch signed with Buffalo's practice squad rather than return to Detroit's, per Maakaron — "I've been through that situation before, just getting cut and released, but this one was a little bit different," he said. Linebacker Troy Reeder signed with the Jets' practice squad, per Maakaron. And Hunter, the Morgan State linebacker who stood out on special teams in the preseason, signed onto New England's active roster Tuesday after going unclaimed, per Booher. No other Detroit cut has a landing spot in anything we could cite this week. The Sunday ledger, by the team's own release: nine released, 24 waived, one waived with an injury designation — 34, against the "roughly 35" we gave you.

The safeties stand where cut day left them: Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch on the reserve physically-unable-to-perform list by the team's own cut-day release, neither eligible before Week 5, with Branch's return reported as more likely around midseason, per Maakaron. Branch's injury is still described two ways on the same day — a torn Achilles by Charean Williams at Pro Football Talk and by Maakaron, a torn knee ligament by Twentyman at the team's own site — and we are not picking one. Holmes on the Branch and LaPorta extensions, per Maakaron: "We still wanted those other two, we still want to keep those guys around. Those plans hadn't changed." And Holmes, asked Wednesday about Detroit's release of cornerback Terrion Arnold back in June, per Maakaron: "The whole situation obviously was unfortunate. Look, the kid made a mistake. The more information that we got throughout the process, that was the result of us doing what the best and right thing was for the club, which was: move on and move forward." Seattle signed Arnold on August 29 and has him on the commissioner's exempt list.

One more anchor from Wednesday: Twentyman's write-up of that session has Detroit finishing last season with 49 sacks but ranking 20-sixth in pass-rush win rate, and assistant general manager Ray Agnew's line on defensive tackle Alim McNeill was that he "is playing as good as anyone in the league right now." 49 sacks was tied for fourth in the league, with Minnesota.

Back in July we previewed Detroit as a team priced at its December strength — a real bounce case attached to a September secondary that amounted to a scheme dare with no proven names. The numbers under it: nine and eight, out of the playoffs, an offense that ranked seventh in expected points added per play — the measure of how much each snap moved the expected score — and fifth throwing the ball, a defense fourteenth by the same measure. Cut day put four games minimum, twice over, on the dare. This week put another four-game minimum on the roster, this one on offense, and a reversal that shows the front office managing the 53 as a weekly document rather than a decision. The bounce half of the case has LaPorta fully cleared before training camp, per Charean Williams at Pro Football Talk, and a backfield that is Gibbs and two names behind him. The July read holds. It has more paperwork under it now.

Next is the Saints, Sunday, September 13, at Ford Field. What to watch: whether the two open roster spots become a receiver and a returner, and who Detroit puts at cornerback in a secondary the beat is still calling unfinished. The Recap follows the game.

_Data via nflverse._