Lions fan favorite might not make it through the bye week without getting waived

You really wish it didn't have to be this way, but it's come to this. The Detroit Lions are heading into their bye week and there's a really good chance that not everyone comes back with them when it's time to face the Cowboys in Week 6.

The big reason is that the Lions could be using the bye week to start the clock on two players that are now eligible to return now that their four weeks are up. One is rookie offensive lineman Christian Mahogany. He's been on the NFI list through the beginning of the season, but Lions head coach Dan Campbell said he's close to returning this past Saturday.

Then there's Brodric Martin. We're not totally sure how far out he is, but his four weeks on injured reserve are up and he can rejoin the team.

That's two roster spots that are going to need to be filled. The Lions do have one open at this time, but they're going to have to make room for the other one and one guy comes immediately to mind and it sadly means the end of something we all thought was going to be big. The player is James Houston.

Houston had a breakout rookie season that saw him net 8 sacks in seven games. He was expected to build off of that and take on a bigger role with the team. He had a hard time grasping the SAM linebacker spot in 2022 and then again in 2023. Then an injury took him out for the whole 2023 season and the Lions continued to try him at SAM linebacker this summer until they gave up a couple weeks before the season started.

Houston made the roster, but it seemed like the Lions really went back and forth on that. He's been a healthy scratch for two of the four games this year and only played three snaps in another. On Monday night he played 14 snaps and it went pretty poorly.

Houston lined up offsides twice and struggled to get pressure. He was thrown to the ground by an offensive lineman on one of those snaps too. On a night he had a chance to show something, he showed bad stuff. At this point it's just clear that the Lions do not see Houston as someone that can help the team. That's even with Marcus Davenport out. It feels like the days are numbered.

Even if the Lions don't make that move over the bye week, they still have to find room to bring back Derrick Barnes and Ifeatu Melifonwu relatively soon. You just hate to see this, but then again, maybe a fresh start somewhere else could get Houston on the right track.

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