With Week 1 of the 2025 NFL regular season set to begin in the coming days, teams across the league are back at practice and installing their game plans.
The Detroit Lions will likely hit the practice field on Tuesday, as their first game isn’t until Sunday afternoon against the Green Bay Packers. Despite the regular season getting underway, some teams are still tinkering with their rosters and signing guys to their practice squad.
The Lions haven’t made any changes to their 53-man roster or practice squad as of late, even though they could use a third quarterback. Speaking of QB, a former Detroit signal-caller has finally found a new opportunity after not playing in the preseason.
#Raiders signing veteran quarterback Jeff Driskel to practice squad, per a league source. Driskel, 32, has 16 career touchdown passes and three touchdown runs as dual threat @KPRC2
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) September 1, 2025
Former Lions QB Jeff Driskel Joins Las Vegas Raiders Ahead of Week 1
On Monday, Aaron Wilson of KPRC-2 reported that the free-agent veteran quarterback Jeff Driskel has signed to the Las Vegas Raiders’ practice squad. The 32-year-old Driskel is your prototypical journeyman quarterback.
The dual-threat quarterback has played for six different teams over his seven-year career, not including teams that he was on their practice squad. The last time we saw Driskel on an NFL roster was during the 2024 season with the Washington Commanders.
The ex-Lions quarterback signed with the Commanders last offseason as their de facto QB3, as they had Jayden Daniels and Marcus Mariota. Driskel actually appeared in one game last year, which was in Week 2 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
However, he only saw one offensive snap in that game. Therefore, you have to go back to 2023, which was the last time Driskel played meaningful snaps of football with the Cleveland Browns.
Driskel joined the Browns late in the 2023 season after being signed off the Arizona Cardinals’ practice squad. In his only start for Cleveland, Driskel completed 13-of-26 passes for 166 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions against the Cincinnati Bengals. He also added 33 yards on the ground in a 17-point loss.
The journeyman quarterback hasn’t had much success when given a chance to start over his career, with a 1-10 record. In fact, three of those losses came in a Lions uniform during the 2019 season.
In 2019, Driskel started in three games for the Lions. He didn’t play well, completing a dismal 59 percent of his passes for four touchdowns and four interceptions. Driskel showed off his mobility with the Lions, recording 151 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Nonetheless, we shouldn’t expect Driskel to find his way on the active roster in Las Vegas. The Raiders have their backup QB in Kenny Pickett, who offers more as a passer than Driskel, who has a 58.6 completion percentage.
If anything, you've got to give Driskel credit for finding ways to stay in the NFL despite not being an adequate backup quarterback.