On Tuesday the Lions cut middle linebacker Stephen Tulloch after telling him in February that he would be released before the upcoming season.
“As I have said numerous times since I became head coach of the Lions, Stephen Tulloch has been a consummate professional on and off the field,” said head coach Jim Caldwell in a statement. “We thank him for his contributions to the Lions and the Detroit community and wish him the very best in all his future endeavors."
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Tulloch went through the start of the league year on the roster but did not attend any of the team’s Optional Team Activities (OTAs). However he was in and out of Detroit a few times meeting with team officials and having physicals.
The 31-year old linebacker lead the Lions with 107 tackles last season. However, he was replaced on most passing downs by Tahir Whitehead to give the defense more athleticism. Whitehead signed a two-year contract with Detroit this offseason and is expected to takeover Tulloch’s starting role.
Tulloch became the butt of some national jokes after tearing his ACL celebrating a sack of Aaron Rodgers and missing the rest of the 2014 season. Outside of that season Tulloch finished every season with the Lions with over 100 tackles.
Cutting Tulloch frees up $5.5 million in cap space, and while most free agents are already off the market, the Lions could use that cap room to absorb a higher paid player’s contract through the trade market if they wanted to go that route.
As for the next year’s linebacking core, the Lions look to be heading into training camp with Tahir Whitehead as the starter at middle linebacker and DeAndre Levy will return to the weakside linebacker position after missing most of last season with a hip injury.
The other linebacker position seems to be somewhat up for grabs, Kyle Van Noy took most of the reps with the first team this spring, but with $5.5 million in new cap space, that could be a spot that the team could look to improve upon.
Rookies are scheduled to report to training camp on July 23 and veterans are scheduled to report on the 28 with the first practice on July 29. This is earlier than Caldwell usually has his team report to camp but with the Lions holding joint practices with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Aug. 9 and 10 he decided to bring his team together earlier.
