Lions finalize their roster and get it down to 53

The Lions made one of their final steps towards the regular season today by trimming their roster down to the required 53 guys which pretty much finalizes roster baring any further trades. Among the more surprising cuts were OT Jon Jansen and CB Dre Bly. Both veteran players who in my opinion played pretty well during the preseason. In addition to Jansen and Bly the Lions also released the following players…
defensive tackle Rob Callaway, linebacker Caleb Campbell, linebacker Vinny Ciurciu, receiver Brian Clark, defensive tackle Landon Cohen, running back DeDe Dorsey, guard Noah Franklin, center Dan Gerberry, kicker Steven Haushka, safety Jonathan Hefney, cornerback Eric King, tackle Cliff Louis, receiver Michael Moore, cornerback Paul Pratt, cornerback T.J. Rushing, safety Ko Simpson, receiver Tim Toone and cornerback Dante Wesley.
Linebacker Caleb Campbell looks as though he might find his way to the practice squad while Vinny Ciurciu also appeared to have a pretty good preseason as well. Defensive tackle Landon Cohen and running back DeDe Dorsey also turned some heads this preseason, especially the final game of the preseason against Buffalo however they were victims of an already deep position on the team.
The Lions also released Mr. Irelevent Tim Toone who had one last chance to make an impression during the final preseason game however didn’t step up and make plays when given the opportunity. It seemed as though you could pick the Lions backup wide receivers out of a hat to decide who to release since Northcut, Williams and Toone all looked pretty bad in exhibition play. Cornerback Eric King was also terrible and is no surprise that he ended up not making the 53 man roster.
Once again Jon Jansen and Dre Bly are clearly the more surprising of the the releases today. Jansen was in a battle for that final OT tackle spot with Gosder Cherilus who seemed to play a little more consistently as training camp wore on. It also appeared that the Lions wanted to get younger on their offensive line by keeping Jason Fox who they drafted in the fourth round of this past seasons draft and Corey Hilliard, a four year veteran who has the ability to play both right and left tackle. I really don’t know how I feel about this move since Cherilus really hasn’t shown much in his time with the Lions and the veteran presence of Jansen seemed like something that could really help. For Bly it simply seems like he wasn’t impressive enough during the preseason to remain on the roster. He (Bly) was a former Pro Bowler during his first stint with the team.
In addition to the cuts, the Lions also made a trade today sending tight end Dan Gronkowski and a late-round draft pick to the Denver Broncos for cornerback Alphonso Smith. Both players were expected to be cut by their respective teams before a trade was worked out. The Lions are extremely deep at the tight end spot so it was nice to see them get a player to help out in their secondary.