The Detroit Lions had a very injury-riddled season in 2024. By the end of the year, Detroit had placed 16 different players on injured reserve, with the majority being on defense. One would assume all the Lions' injuries showed the franchise how valuable it is to have good backups. Yet, Detroit made a puzzling decision on Thursday when they announced their plan to cut a productive veteran backup/ special teamer.
According to Tom Pelissero, the Lions plan to cut linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin when the new league year begins on March 10. While Reeves-Maybin has never been a starter for Detroit, he's a key special teamer and decent rotational linebacker.
The #Lions plan to release veteran LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin when the new league year begins, per source.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 27, 2025
JRM — who’s also the NFLPA president — made his first Pro Bowl and was second-team All-Pro in 2023. A longtime contributor and special teams standout now available. pic.twitter.com/xPzEAFmF7W
Lions Expected to Cut Linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin
Detroit selected Reeves-Maybin with the 124th pick in the 2017 NFL draft. He was primarily
a special teamer during his first stint covering five seasons with the Lions from 2017-2021. However, Reeves-Maybin did start 11 games as a linebacker for Detroit in 2021.
In those 11 games, Reeves-Maybin recorded 82 tackles, four TFLs, four pass deflections and two forced fumbles. That performance, along with his value on special teams, earned him a two-year contract worth $7.5 million with the Houston Texans during the 2022 offseason. Unfortunately, Houston parted ways with the then-28-year-old linebacker after one season.
Thus, Reeves-Maybin returned to Detroit on the same deal he received from the Texans. In 2023, he recorded 20 tackles, one TFL and one sack on 8% of the defensive snaps. Despite not seeing the field much as a defender, Reeves-Maybin earned All-Pro and Pro-Bowl honors for his special teams work.
This past season, the 30-year-old linebacker played in just 10 games due to an injury he suffered in Week 9. Reeves-Maybin's injury was originally listed as a shoulder injury but was then updated to a neck injury. While he did return to play the final two games of the regular season, he missed the divisional round game.
Due to this, some speculate that the neck injury could have something to do with the Lions releasing Reeves-Maybin. Nevertheless, Lions fans and, quite honestly, the rest of the NFL universe hope a neck injury won't put Reeves-Maybin into an early retirement.