Ozigbo to roster, elevate OL from practice squad

The Detroit Lions made a few roster moves to help fortify their roster for “Monday Night Football” vs. the Las Vegas Raiders.

In advance of their game against the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday night, the Detroit Lions made their final roster changes official. Detroit has elevated offensive tackle Michael Niese temporarily from the practice squad and added running back Devine Ozigbo from the practice squad to the 53-man roster.

Monday night, Ozigbo will take over as the team’s backup running back, behind Craig Reynolds and youngster Jahmyr Gibbs. Given that Mohamed Ibrahim sustained a chronic hip injury that necessitated surgery and David Montgomery will be out for an additional week, Ozigbo should have a great chance to establish himself on special teams. As a practice squad elevation, he has already been in games in each of the previous two weeks, totaling 21 special teams snaps. However, he has now been added to the 53-man roster.

Niese, on the other hand, gives the interior offensive line some much-needed depth. Niese can cover all three spots, with center Frank Ragnow unlikely to play on Monday, left guard Jonah Jackson already ruled out, and right guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai iffy due to a fresh back ailment. It’s feasible that Niese would start on Monday as the team’s backup center and backup guard if Ragnow is sidelined and Graham Glasgow covers him at center. The interior offensive lineman for Detroit that are currently healthy are Dan Skipper (who can play both G and OT), Glasgow, Niese, Kayode Awosika, and Colby Sorsdal.

Lions coach Dan Campbell stated on Saturday, “We’ve got Yode, we have Sorsdal, we have Skip, we have all kinds of options.”

During the week of roster cuts, Niese, a second-year player, was added to Detroit’s practice squad. Although he played both guard and tackle at Temple, he has not yet participated in an NFL regular season game. He filled in at every interior position for the Buccaneers in the 2023 preseason. It’s important to note that he will be attending the Broncos’ training camp in 2022, along with some overlap with Glasgow in Denver.