Detroit Lions waive DL Chris Smith

In a move to create some roster flexibility, the Detroit Lions announced on Monday that they have waived second-year defensive lineman Chris Smith.

Smith was signed off the team’s practice squad on Saturday, played in Week 16 against the Bears, and chances are, he will be re-signed to the practice squad later in the week. We can confidently predict this path because it’s already happened with Smith two other times this season.

Essentially, due to injuries, the Lions were forced to turn to members of their practice squad to fill holes in their game-day roster. However, the Lions needed three (or more) players from their practice squad to accomplish this, and because teams are only allowed to elevate two players each week, the Lions opted to make space on their active roster for Smith. With his role complete, they released him, hoping he will clear waivers—like he has the two other times this season—and then he can return to the practice squad, where the Lions have three open spots.

While it’s a bit risky to subject Smith to waivers, the Lions have five other defensive tackles on their roster, so they could manage if they happen to lose this gamble.

The Lions typically execute this transaction early in the week for two reasons. The first is so that they can ideally push Smith through waivers and hopefully get him re-signed on the practice squad before practices begin.

Secondly, Detroit prefers to give them flexibility with players potentially returning from injury. If no injured player is ready to return this week, the Lions might opt to re-sign Smith and go through the process again. But, if a player like Jalen Reeves-Maybin is ready to return—which sounds like a real possibility—with the Smith transaction already complete, the Lions can simply add Reeves-Maybin to the active roster without the need for a corresponding move.