Two time practice squad player has improved so much that he feels like a lock to make the Lions' 53-man roster

We were at Detroit Lions training camp this past week and we got to see a lot of things that both provided encouragement and concern. There was one guy that stood out a lot in the encouragement section. A guy that would do stuff and then have everyone looking at their roster sheet to see who it was and say "this guy is balling right now."

It wasn't Amon-Ra St Brown or Jameson Williams, although those guys gave you the highlights you expect, it was third year receiver Maurice Alexander. He impressed so much that he now feels like a lock to make the Lions' 53-man roster.

Alexander has had quite the trip to get to this point. He started college as a quarterback at Florida International University. Then he got switched to receiver two years later. He wound up going undrafted and then got a job at UPS in 2019.

Three years later Alexander got invited to be a part of the USFL draft pool and wound up getting drafted by the Philadelphia Stars. He had a really good year for the Stars and made the All-USFL team. The Lions signed him in 2022 and he made a big enough impact to get a spot on the Lions practice squad that year.

The Lions wound up signing him to a futures deal after the season and he returned back to Detroit last season and was once again a practice squad player all year and once again the Lions signed him to a futures deal.

This year he looks like a guy that's really coming into his own. He's running a lot more crisp routes, he's laying out for catches and making contested ones too. He was very impressive.

Alexander seems to really be heeding the words of Lions' special teams coordinator Dave Fipp who told players that the days of making the team just based of special teams ability are over. Alexander is putting in the work on both ends and it's going to help him a lot down the road.

He very well could find himself slotted in as the Lions kick returner in 2024. With the NFL switching over to the kickoff format that was used in the USFL when Alexander led the league in return yards, he seems liek the perfect player to be in that spot. Plus we've already seen him have some return success in the NFL.

With that skill and what he's been showing on the offense, right now he seems like a lock to make the roster. Keep an eye on this guy for the rest of the summer. Especially in the preseason.

Related: The biggest takeaway from the first week of Lions' training camp was that Brad Holmes made a big mistake and still has time to correct it