Getty Kerrith Whyte running in a Bears preseason game.
The Detroit Lions are getting set to tangle with the Chicago Bears in a few days, and have turned to a new face to perhaps get some inside information for the matchup.
Wednesday, the Lions added running back Kerrith Whyte to the practice squad, slicing wide receiver Victor Bolden. Whyte is a speedy back who has the capability to play on special teams as well, and has the potential for 4.3 speed as he showed coming into the draft.
#Lions have signed free agent WR/RB Kerrith Whyte to the practice squad and released WR Victor Bolden from the practice squad.
Detroit’s practice squad had been set from over the weekend, but Whyte is a very new addition. Potentially, the move was made to help the Lions get familiar with the Chicago offense with some inside information. Whyte hasn’t been with the team for a year, but he could be familiar with Matt Nagy’s offense enough to give the Lions a bit of a scouting report this week from the inside and craft a game plan.
Moreover, in Whyte the Lions get a player who has a little bit of speed and juke to his game. He’s a lot like Jason Huntley, whom the team just released and lost on the free agency market.
Will Whyte’s addition mean anything to the Lions? Time will tell, but his biggest contributions this week might be felt in the meeting room as the team plans for Week 1 against the Bears.
Kerrith Whyte Stats
A 2019 pick of the Bears in the 7th round, Whyte didn’t hang around Chicago long and was cut there last September. From there, he latched on with the Pittsburgh Steelers where he made a bit more of an NFL impact late in the season. Whyte ran for 122 yards last season with the Steelers, and was just released by the team over the weekend during their final round of cuts. Whyte also has 264 return yards in his short career.
In college, Whyte was productive with Florida Atlantic. He rushed for 1,358 yards and 11 touchdowns in the ground and was also solid as a return man on special teams, racking up 2,115 yards and scoring 2 touchdowns in his career. Obviously, he’s the type of player who could become a gadget for a team like Detroit and help them in a variety of ways offensively. The fact he has some NFL experience under his belt is also a plus for the team.
Lions Loaded at Running Back
Detroit has a solid player on their team currently in Kerryon Johnson that they are developing. Johnson, however, has run into a few issues with injuries the last few years, so the team was looking for someone else that can be a solid running mate for Johnson moving forward. On the roster, Bo Scarbrough showed late last season that he could be a potential answer for the team in addition to Ty Johnson, but still, the Lions were looking for someone else to build around. That’s why they felt as if they may want to target the draft, which is where D’Andre Swift came in. The team has done a nice job to upgrade the backfield with the right amount of youth, and later added Adrian Peterson for some veteran punch.
Whyte might face long odds of making the roster in the short term, but he can provide some depth in the event the Lions have a depth issue or an injury to worry about in the weeks ahead.
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