The Detroit Lions’ last roster tweaks before Week 1 were all about the defensive front, with the team turning to Ben Stille for Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints while bringing Levi Onwuzurike back onto the practice squad.
Detroit announced Saturday that Stille has been elevated from the practice squad, giving the veteran lineman a shot to dress for the opener. Onwuzurike, meanwhile, was re-signed to the practice squad just one day after being cut from the 53-man roster.
The move with Onwuzurike was hardly a surprise. As a vested veteran, his $1.215 million contract would have become fully guaranteed if he had stayed on the 53-man roster through Detroit’s Week 1 game. There’s a chance he lands back on the active roster next week, but for now he won’t be available Sunday, since the Lions did not elevate him.
That opened the door for Stille, who fills a similar role. The former Nebraska standout entered the league as an undrafted player in 2022 and has appeared in only 18 games overall. He didn’t play at all in 2025, and his next snap will be his first NFL action since Week 9 of the 2024 season, when he was with the Arizona Cardinals.
Stille joined the Lions about a week into training camp and quickly earned notice for his size and range of responsibilities.
“He’s a pro, smart, really smart,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said two weeks ago. “He’s got versatility, strong, very strong.
He can shed blocks, shock, shed, make plays, kind of knows himself, knows what he is, knows his own limitations and can play fast enough to cover up for some of those. But that’s what’s the intrigue with him is the versatility, man.
He can play some big end, we think; he can play the nose certainly, and then three if you needed it. So the more you can do and the more that you can prove you can do, that is always going to help your case.”
Detroit also passed on elevating Seth McLaughlin from the practice squad, which leaves the Lions without an obvious backup center behind Juice Scruggs for Week 1. The team did work starting right guard Tate Ratledge at center during training camp as an emergency option.
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