Getty Saivion Smith during the SEC Championship in 2018.
The Detroit Lions roster is being severely complicate by COVID-19 as well as injury, and as a result, the team was forced to make another move on the market to supplement their roster.
Having lost another cornerback to injury in Jerry Jacobs and after being forced to put another on the reserve/COVID-19 list in Nickell Robey-Coleman, Detroit was forced to make a move on Tuesday and managed to pluck another interesting player from a rival roster in the league.
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The team revealed that they had been awarded cornerback Saivion Smith from the San Francisco 49ers off waivers. Additionally, as part of the same move, the team added a pair of corners to the practice squad in Shakur Brown as well as Chris Williamson and also putting Robey-Coleman on the COVID-19 list.
#Lions announce roster moves:
Assigned CB Saivion Smith via waivers (from SF)
Signed CB Shakur Brown and CB Chris Williamson to the practice squad
Placed CB Nickell Robey-Coleman on Practice Squad Reserve/Covid-19
Smith has never had a consistent chance to see the field in his career, but now he’s going to have a shot to do just that and get some tape late in the 2021 season. That’s big news for Smith and his potential career development as well as career trajectory in the future.
Obviously, Smith will have a chance to show himself, and it will be interesting to see whether or not he can get the job done.
Smith’s Stats & Highlights
Smith came into the league in 2019 as an undrafted free agent out of Alabama, and started his career in Jacksonville where he was offseason member of the team, but managed to stick with Dallas in 2020, seeing a spot on the roster. After that, Smith landed with Seattle and Denver, and was most recently with San Francisco having just been promoted to the active roster on December 11 of 2021.
Though Smith has seen time on a roster, he only has 3 total tackles in the league to his credit, meaning he is looking to make a much bigger impression this time around. In addition to his NFL experience, Smith has played in the XFL with the Houston Roughnecks.
Here’s a look at some highlights from college:
Smith had a decent career with the Crimson Tide, putting up 60 total tackles and 3 interceptions in 2018. He’ll be looking to prove he can get that done on a bigger stage now in the NFL.
How Smith Fits Lions Roster
At this point, the Lions need all the help they can get at cornerback, so Smith is going to likely have a shot to come in and play a decent sized role for the team. The Lions will have to replace Jacobs as well as Roby-Coleman, so Smith is likely to get some sort of extended look for the team this time around. While the Lions can’t promise a long term role, there isn’t a better spot to be if you’re a cornerback looking for a shot. The Lions have struggled to keep players healthy, so this is likely an open audition for the future that Smith will be on at this point in time.
The Lions are in a desperate place at cornerback, so they will hope that Smith can help them and show some talent like other underrated young players have.
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