Getty Tom Kennedy catches a preseason pass in Cleveland.
The Detroit Lions have made a move ahead of their game on Monday Night Football against the Green Bay Packers. The team revealed they have added defensive tackle John Atkins while cutting wide receiver Tom Kennedy from the roster.
The move comes as the Lions are still dealing with a defensive front which has been hampered by injury. Up front, Da’Shawn Hand and Mike Daniels were downgraded to out for the game against the Packers, and A’Shawn Robinson is dealing with his own injury, a pop up knee issue which has him questionable for the game.
Obviously, getting Atkins into the mix will help the depth of the group, and the tackle is someone the Lions have been able to trust through the last few years enough for him to get a shot to provide something at this point in time for the team when he is needed the most.
The swap could mean that the Lions are concerned about their defensive line more than the fact that Danny Amendola needs more time to recover. Given the need at wideout for the team, that could be decent news.
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More on Lions’ Addition of John Atkins
The defensive tackle is a second-year man from Georgia, where he joined the Lions as a free agent after being cut from the New England Patriots’ roster. He had been signed by the Patriots as an undrafted free agent after the 2018 draft. Patricia is known to look for specific defensive linemen, and Atkins impressed him enough where he stuck out the 2018 season while getting a look in New England. With similar defensive principles, he was a quick addition for Detroit.
The Lions kept Atkins on the roster and promoted him late in the season after Hand’s injury in 2018. He didn’t make the team out of camp in 2019, but the Lions did add him to their first practice squad of the season, showing they clearly like what he can bring to the mix in a major way for their defensive line.
Atkins has only 2 tackles to his credit in his career, so he will be looking to improve upon those numbers while he is in Detroit.
Tom Kennedy Moving
This summer during training camp, Kennedy was one of the more interesting players competing for time in Detroit at wideout. Many saw the slot receiver as a similar version of Danny Amendola in how he ran his routes and showed toughness. The former lacrosse star hadn’t played much football, but did have a background in the game, and used it as his advantage to stick around.
Kennedy was promoted when Amendola went down after the Philadelphia game with a chest injury, but it certainly appears as if the Lions could feel good about where Amendola is if they are willing to let a player with a similar skillset walk.
Kennedy didn’t make a catch when he was with the Lions and didn’t so much as register a stat in his one game. It will be interesting to see if the Lions try to bring him back at some point off the waiver wire to help out their wideout depth if need be.
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