Lions news: Former Detroit WR back on market after short stint with Bills

Earlier this offseason, the NFL ended the indefinite suspension handed down to several Detroit Lions players who violated the league’s gambling protocol. Since then, the Lions re-signed safety C.J. Moore to a one-year deal. However, another player impacted by those suspensions—receiver Quintez Cephus—finds himself back on the free agency market.

A little over a week after being reinstated, Cephus signed a one-year deal with the Buffalo Bills. But on Thursday, Cephus was cut to make room for free agent safety Dee Delaney.

Cephus was drafted by the Lions in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft. At 6-foot-1, 208 pounds, Cephus was considered a solid possession receiver at Wisconsin, and displayed some areas of promise in his three years with the Lions. In his rookie year, he posted 20 catches for 349 yards and two touchdowns. Unfortunately for Cephus, injuries dominated the next two years of his career. He broke his collarbone five weeks into the 2021 season, and a foot injury caused him to miss the final 13 games of the 2022 season.

While the Lions have a need for a wide receiver, it’s hard to imagine Detroit giving Cephus another shot. He was drafted by the previous regime, and he doesn’t bring the speed they tend to like in their receiving corps.

Onto the rest of this weekend’s notes:

• Bleacher Report’s Maurice Moton put out his win/loss predictions for the 2024 season, and no one has a better record than the Lions.

• If you missed it, here is the Lions’ schedule release video, featuring Detroiters—and stars of the show “Detroiters”—Tim Robinson and Sam Richardson.

And here’s a neat behind-the-scenes feature on the video:

• Justin Rogers of the Detroit News took his stab at a way-too-early 53-man roster prediction (subscription required).

• The Lions asked their players which game they were looking forward to the most. It resulted in this awesome video, where Kerby Joseph shines:

• The Detroit Lions Academy celebrated their second ever field day to celebrate the end of the school season. The Detroit News and MLive covered the event, which was attended by rookie Ennis Rakestraw Jr., cornerback Khalil Dorsey, and several UDFAs (Hogan Hatten, Nate Lynn, Loren Strickland, Isaac Ukwu)

• Home ticket prices are EXPENSIVE. Those away games may be full of Honolulu Blue again in 2024: