Lions stock report: Risers, fallers at every position vs. Chiefs

Checking in on every Detroit Lions player’s stock after their preseason game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Detroit Lions second exhibition of the 2024 preseason is behind us and it’s time to check in on the players who helped or hurt their chances of making the roster. The Kansas City Chiefs played their starters in the first half , while the Lions rested theirs, presenting a unique challenge for the Lions’ reserves, and that variance in talent was taken into consideration when developing this stock report.

Attendance

The Lions rested 28 players on Saturday, plus an additional four injured players—DJ Reader, Christian Mahogany, Emmanuel Moseley, and John Cominsky—who are on injured lists but currently count against the 90-man roster. Let’s take a quick look at an overview of the roster with our game day depth chart , noting that the players without a position color did not play in this game. Additionally, if a player’s name is written in red, they came into the game with an injury, but if they were injured in the game, their name is boxed in red.

Offense

Quarterback

Did not play: Jared Goff

• Stock up: Hendon Hooker
• Stock neutral: Nate Sudfeld
• Dressed but DNP: Jake Fromm

Hooker opened the second half with two incompletions and was a bit wild with his accuracy. Fortunately, he settled down quickly, and was 12 of 13 the rest of the way, including going 5-for-5 for 82 yards and a 9-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter as he led the Lions to a comeback victory.

Hooker was cool and collected in the pocket and showed great patience when making his reads. He was sure to go through his progression before escaping the pocket, but that part of his game was on display as he rushed five times for 11 yards and the previously mentioned score. Hooker still had some hiccups, but it was an overall very clean game that should vault him into the lead for the QB2 job.

“Ultimately, the drive before the winner, we messed some things up,” coach Dan Campbell said of Hooker. “He made a few errors, more than a few, but then he comes back, the last drive, he’s got to ‘Hey, man. Put that behind you,’ and he cleans it up. He cleans it up. He loses the football, he learns from it, and so, you know, that was excellent, man. Every time he gets a chance to take the reps and grow from it, we’re going to be better off. He’s going to be better off.”

Sudfeld also looked improved from last week’s game, but his accuracy issues were still lingering. His final stat line was 14 of 27 for 196 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. It was certainly progress, but he did not look as comfortable as Hooker, and he seemed to force too many decisions.

Running back

Did not play: David Montgomery, Jahmyr Gibbs (hamstring), Jermar Jefferson (undisclosed)

• Stock up: Sione Vaki*
• Stock neutral: Craig Reynolds, Jake Funk
• Stock down: Zonovan Knight

Building on a strong preseason Game 1, Vaki exploded in the second quarter showcasing his hands and elusiveness in the open field. While he ran six times for 22 yards, his four catches for 60 yards during the two-minute drill at the end of the first half was highly impressive.

“The two-minute drive to end the [half], wow, that was huge,” Campbell said of Vaki. “And he’s making play after play, and he’s tired and he keeps going. He keeps pushing himself through it. At one point his whole facemask just gets ripped off. I don’t even know how that’s possible. […] You felt growth today from him.”

Knight lands in the stock-down category because, for the second week in a row, he hasn’t gotten a snap until the second half. It’s not even that he has looked bad in his performances, but he is clearly behind on the depth chart of a deep running backs room, and he’s not getting the opportunities you would expect of a player in competition to make the roster.

Wide receiver

Did not play: Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Kalif Raymond

• Stock up: Kaden Davis, Isaiah Williams*
• Stock neutral: Donovan Peoples-Jones, Tom Kennedy, Maurice Alexander
• Stock down: Daurice Fountain, Tre-Quan Smith, Jalon Calhoun*

Davis scored the Lions’ first touchdown of the preseason, catching a 20-pass from Sudfeld and adding 41 yards after catch on his way to the end zone. Davis got a timely ball from Sudfeld, a solid get-in-the-way block from Peoples-Jones, and used his speed to take it to the house.

Unfortunately for Davis, he only had one other catch on the night for three yards, despite being targeted seven times.

The only player who had more targets than Davis was the rookie Williams, who had eight. Williams was able to corral six of those targets and turned them into 71 yards (54 were YAC), including a big 37-yard reception in the fourth quarter.

“Yeah, look, we always put stock in the guys who are making plays, you know? And he does,” Campbell said of Williams. “He is making plays. Now, that’s in the slot, which is where he excels. That’s where his game is suited for and he’s making the most of it. That’s what’s hard a little bit is, man, he is a football player, he is making plays, but we’ve got [Amon-Ra] Saint [Brown], we’ve got Leaf [Kalif Raymond], and so where does that fit?”

Williams also fielded three punts for 41 return yards, though he did fumble one of those attempts, unnecessarily fighting for extra yards, but was bailed out by C.J. Moore who recovered the fumble.

Fountain lost his starting job to Peoples-Jones and caught just two passes for 15 yards on the night. Smith and Calhoun didn’t see the field until the fourth quarter.

Tight End

Did not play: Sam LaPorta (hamstring), Brock Wright

• Stock neutral: Shane Zylstra, James Mitchell, Parker Hesse
• Stock down: Sean McKeon

No one lands in the stock-up category for this group because we saw what we have seen from them for the past several weeks. Zylstra and Mitchell are fighting for the same types of snaps, Hesse is getting some run at fullback, and McKeon isn’t finding the field until later on in the game.

Projected offensive line

Did not play: Taylor Decker, Graham Glasgow, Frank Ragnow, Kevin Zeitler, Penei Sewell
DNP Injured: Christian Mahogany* (NFI-illness )

• Stock up: Kayode Awosika, Kingsley Eguakun*, Michael Niese
• Stock neutral: Colby Sorsdal, Giovanni Manu*, Jake Burton, Jamarco Jones
• Stock down: Bryan Hudson*, Duke Clemens*
• Injured: Dan Skipper

Skipper was rolled up on during the first drive and exited the game for the second drive. Campbell downplayed the injury after the game , saying it was nothing long-term. It’s also worth noting that Skipper only played nine snaps against the Giants, so he probably wasn’t going to be in this game long anyway and likely got pulled early as a precautionary move.

Overall, the offensive line played very well and Campbell took note in his post-game presser:

“The O-line really throughout that whole game—that’s some of the best protection that you can have,” Campbell explained. “I mean, start to finish, our quarterbacks weren’t touched. We had plenty of time to execute.”

It’s difficult to do a full and accurate assessment of the trenches watching the game live, but the interior starters all caught my eye, while the interior reserves had some flaws to clean up.

Defense

Defensive line

Did not play: Alim McNeill, Levi Onwuzurike, Kyle Peko
DNP Injured: DJ Reader (PUP ), John Cominsky (expected to be placed on IR at cutdowns )

• Stock up: Brodric Martin
• Stock neutral: Mekhi Wingo*
• Stock down: Chris Smith

Like with the offensive line, the defensive trenches are hard to fully assess, but Martin’s run defense was strong, Wingo managed to create some pressure, while Smith didn’t catch my eye until the end of the second quarter, even though he had been playing from the start.

EDGE

Did not play: Aidan Hutchinson, Marcus Davenport, James Houston (knee)

• Stock up: Isaac Ukwu*, Mitchell Agude, Josh Paschal
• Stock neutral: Mathieu Betts
• Stock down: Pat O’Connor

Ukwu and Agude made multiple big plays, while Paschal—who could have arguably been listed with the interior players for the amount he lined up inside because of the lack of available depth—made arguably the biggest defensive play of the night.

Ukwu—who left with an injury but was able to return later in the game—had a sack for the second week in a row, this time after pressure from Agude . Agude may not have closed out the sack, but he had two beautiful reads on screen plays that resulted in tackles for loss.

Betts also had a sack, but it was his only tackle of the game despite playing most of it.

O’Connor had two tackles on the night but his play rarely stood out, as at one point, I questioned if he had left the game with an injury because of the long stretches of time without seeing him on the field.

Off-the-ball linebacker

Did not play: Jack Campbell, Alex Anzalone, Derrick Barnes, Malcolm Rodriguez (injured)

• Stock up: Jalen Reeves-Maybin
• Stock neutral: Ty Summers, Abraham Beauplan, Ben Niemann
• Injured: Malik Jefferson

Outside of Reeves-Maybin—who looked sharp in coverage once again and only played a series or two—and Niemann, the rest of the linebackers rotated for the remainder of the game. For the most part, the group looked athletic, and each flashed a moment or two where you could argue why they might be the favorite for a job on the practice squad, but I need to see more consistency before I start considering which may be in line for a potential LB6 role.

Cornerback

Did not play: Carlton Davis (hamstring), Terrion Arnold* (pec), Ennis Rakestraw* (ankle)
DNP Injured: Emmanuel Moseley (expected to be placed on IR at cutdowns )

• Stock up: Amik Robertson, Khalil Dorsey, Kindle Vildor
• Stock neutral: Essang Bassey, Javelin Guidry
• Stock down: Steven Gilmore

“Dorse [Dorsey], KV [Vildor], man, really played top-notch. So did Amik. I thought they really stepped up and played excellent football,” Campbell said in his post-game opening statement. This is an easy assessment to agree with as all three had tight coverage, used the sidelines to their advantage, and looked stout in run support.

It’s been a steady fall for Gilmore, who got caught trying for an interception and gave up a big play late in the game. To his credit, he never gave up on the play and hustled to get in position to make a tackle, but instead of wrapping up, he opted to try and punch the ball out, which allowed the receiver to power through and into the end zone. I like the effort, but gambling instead of making the tackle is not how you survive in defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn’s scheme.

Safety

Did not play: Brian Branch (injured), Kerby Joseph

• Stock up: Brandon Joseph
• Stock neutral: Ifeatu Melifonwu, Loren Strickland*
• Stock down: C.J. Moore, Chelen Garnes*

Another week and another play where Joseph makes a play on the ball. He did make a quality hit to dislodge and force a fumble, but the ball bounced the Chiefs way, taking away Joseph’s second turnover in as many games.

Melifonwu saw the field in this game after sitting out Game 1 against the Giants, but he didn’t stand out positively or negatively in any way for me. Strickland showed off his range by taking slot reps again, but I’ve come to expect that from him.

Moore played early on special teams but didn’t see the field on defense until late in the game. It’s possible that since he is coming off an injury, he was on a snap count and limited, but if he has indeed fallen to the bottom of the safety depth chart, he’ll need to be a demon on special teams in order to make the roster—good thing that’s in his range.

Special teams

• Stock up: Jack Fox, Jake Bates, Hogan Hatten
• Stock neutral: Scott Daly

“Jake Bates had some big kicks, that’s a big kick, you know? Here we go, that’s two weeks in a row. He hits a 53 and a 55-yarder and then hits a game-winner,” Campbell said of the Lions kicker. “Every time he does something like that, you gain a little more confidence there. That was really good to see.”

Bates may have just sealed up the Lions kicking job with that kick. Yes, it was the preseason, but the pressure on Bates was real, as his job was very much on the line after an up-and-down camp. He has dialed up the consistency of late, but hitting a field goal in a clutch moment sent Campbell a message about the young kicker.

“I needed to see that,” coach Dan Campbell said of Bates’ clutch field goal. “Quite frankly, I felt like he would drill that. […] you see what he’s done over the last couple of weeks, it’s encouraging. Believe me, [special teams coordinator Dave] Fipp and I both know, look, he hasn’t arrived and there’s still going to be more growing pains that come with this. We’ve just got to be patient, and just let him continue to grow. That’s what’s most important, as long as he doesn’t ever go in the tank or lose confidence. Just keep doing what you do. You’re not going to make them all, but you keep getting better. This kid, he’s got something.”

Hatten got the first team reps at long snapper and his ability to get down field on kick coverage is standing out. Has he done enough to pass Daly on the depth chart? It’s close and this battle could come down to the wire.

One final note: Jack Fox is unbelievable .