The Detroit Lions have added another linebacker with special teams experience in a flurry of roster moves.
The Detroit Lions announced Saturday afternoon a bevy of roster moves. A few of them were procedural—placing kicker Michael Badgley on injured reserve following his season-ending injury, adding Christian Mahogany to the Non-Football Illness list, and coming to an injury settlement with waived offensive lineman Matt Farniok.
But among those transactions, the Lions also announced that they have signed veteran linebacker Malik Jefferson.
Jefferson was a former third-round pick of the Cincinnati Bengals back in 2018, but he lasted just a single year before being waived by the team in final roster cuts in 2019. Since then, he’s bounced around to the Browns (2019), Chargers (2019, 2020), Titans (2020), Colts (2021), and Cowboys (2022-2023). Over that time Jefferson has only made 38 game appearances with 33 of those coming in his first three years in the NFL.
Almost all of that experience has come on special teams. His most active season was in 2020 with the Chargers, where he played a total of 236 special teams snaps—tied for fourth-most on the team.
That’s Jefferson’s most likely path to the Lions’ 53-man roster. Detroit is pretty well set with their top five linebackers: Alex Anzalone, Jack Campbell, Derrick Barnes, Malcolm Rodriguez, and Jalen Reeves-Maybin. However, they may want to carry a sixth for special teams usage, much like they did with Anthony Pittman last year.
Earlier this offseason, the Lions signed veteran linebacker Ben Niemann to bring extra competition to that room. Now it appears Jefferson will enter the fray with an opportunity to make some noise.
As for Mahogany, the active/Non-Football Illness list operates much like the active/Non-Football Injury list. He is eligible to come off the list whenever he is healthy, and he still currently counts against the 90-man roster.