3 Detroit Lions who definitely won’t be back after D.J. Reader deal

The Detroit Lions made an offseason splash to beef up their defensive line, signing D.J. Reader to a two-year deal. Reader had spent each of the last four seasons with the Bengals where he'd anchor their defensive line. Now, he heads to Detroit where he gets to play with star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson.

The Lions have done an outstanding job improving their defense as a whole this offseason, landing players like Carlton Davis, Amik Robertson, and Marcus Davenport as well. Reader is the biggest fish of all, but those players shouldn't be discounted.

With adding comes subtracting, as there are limits both with the salary cap and roster space that the Lions must adhere to. Since they've done so much adding, these three players will not be back, especially after the Reader deal.

3. Will Harris, S

Will Harris was selected in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Lions and has played a pretty big role in their secondary in his five-year career. He's appeared in at least 15 games in each season. He was only a primary starter in two of those years, but Harris has been a decent depth safety for the Lions and has even seen some time at the linebacker position as well.

This past season saw a massive dip in playing time for the 28-year-old as while he did appear in all 17 games, he played in just 18% of the defensive snaps, a career-low. Quarterbacks were able to complete 78.9% of the passes in his direction which, of course, is not great.

Harris is an unrestricted free agent as of now, and it's a rather easy decision for the Lions to let him go. He wasn't great when he saw the field, and he spent most of his time on the sidelines. A parting of ways can be good for Harris who will look for a fresh start elsewhere.