Hundreds of players are about to hit the NFL’s waiver wire. With the league’s 4 p.m. ET deadline on Saturday for rosters to be cut down to 53, every team is going to dump over 20 players, the Detroit Lions included.
Those players let go are subject to the waiver claim process, and that’s where Detroit’s poor 2019 finish turns into an asset for GM Bob Quinn and the Lions. Detroit holds the No. 3 spot on the waiver claim order, which leaves the team in a strong position to pick up players discarded from other teams at the roster deadline.
The waiver order is the same as the raw 2020 NFL Draft order. The Cincinnati Bengals are first, followed by the Washington Football Team and then the Lions. The draft order was altered by some traded picks, but the waiver claim order is based on the pre-trade draft positions.
The top 10 in the waiver order:
Cincinnati Bengals
Washington Football Team
Detroit Lions
New York Giants
Miami Dolphins
Los Angeles Chargers
Carolina Panthers
Arizona Cardinals
Jacksonville Jaguars
Cleveland Browns
That order remains in place until the conclusion of Week 3, when it’s readjusted based on records to that point.
If the Lions make a claim on a player, he will become theirs unless Cincinnati or Washington also claimed the same player. The order is the same for every player; if the Lions claim someone, it doesn’t reset the order for another player.
The team has been active and productive on the roster cutdown waiver wire in recent years under Quinn. Detroit landed starting DE Romeo Okwara and core special teams player Dee Virgin in the waiver claim process.
