Josh Paschal: Everything you need to know

The Lions released Paschal (back) on Wednesday. The move clears close to $1.8 million for Detroit. The 26-year-old Paschal missed the entire 2025 campaign with a back injury after appeared in 14 regular-season games the previous season. Paschal has 5.0 career sacks across 36 regular-season contests.

Paschal (back) wasn't activated off the NFI list before the expiration of his 21-day practice window and is therefore ineligible to play for the remainder of this season, Christian Booher of SI.com reports. Paschal was placed on the non-football injury list in August due to a back injury. He was designated to return Nov. 5, thus opening his 21-day window for activation. It appeared Paschal could be on the verge of returning when he was deemed a full participant in Monday's practice walkthrough, but he was labeled as DNP both Tuesday and Wednesday, and Detroit ultimately decided that he's not far enough in his recovery to suit up this season. Paschal's future with the team is very murky, as he's in the final year of his rookie contract.

Paschal (back) has been ruled out for Thursday's game against Green Bay. Paschal's 21-day practice window opened Nov. 5, but he hasn't recovered quite enough from a back injury to make his 2025 regular-season debut. Given that his window is set to expire, Paschal will likely be activated from the Lions' NFI list ahead of their Week 14 clash against the Cowboys on Thursday, Dec. 4.