One of the mantras in Detroit Lions 2025 training camp has been: “The standard is the standard.” We’ve heard that phrase repeated multiple times throughout camp, from both coaches and players. On Thursday, Lions General Manager Brad Holmes spoke with the media about the Lions’ recent cutdowns and why the team made the decision to keep only 50 players on their initial roster.

Cutdowns are always a challenging time of the NFL calendar. Teams spent the last eight months of the offseason building a 90-man roster through free agency and the draft, then put that roster through a grueling month of training camp and preseason, only to have it culminate in a massive roster reduction period. Teams are allowed to retain a maximum of 53 players on their active roster, as well as a 16-player practice

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