Former Detroit Lions cornerback Starling Thomas was claimed off waivers by Arizona Cardinals.
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00:00 John, in kind of shocking news, the Lions have lost quarterback Starling Thomas to the Arizona Cardinals.
00:05 What do you make of that being the case?
00:07 Yeah, Vito, look, the NFL waiver wire allows teams to look at and go through players that were let go by NFL teams with less than four years experience.
00:18 And Starling Thomas, I thought, made a real good case for himself to make the Lions roster.
00:23 But, unfortunately, as camp progressed, some of the things that he didn't do well kind of started to come to light in regards to technique and being a little bit overaggressive in regards to his coverage.
00:35 And I thought that maybe the Lions would have taken a chance and put him on the practice squad had he cleared waivers.
00:42 But I think that that's what Dan Campbell had indicated was the Lions, based on the upgraded talent at linebacker along the defensive line,
00:51 and in the secondary, it was going to force the team to make tough decisions and some good football players were going to be let go,
00:58 including Chase Lucas, who did indeed end up on the practice squad, but did not make the initial 53-man roster.
01:05 For Thomas, he now gets another opportunity with an NFC team, with the Cardinals, and I think that he's going to have an opportunity to really develop and make a case for himself.
01:14 He made plays. He really stood out as one of the players alongside Stephen Gilmore and Khalil Dorsey, both of whom did actually make the roster.
01:23 So when you look at it, Vito, not everybody can earn a 53-man roster spot, and the Arizona Cardinals, who had a record six waiver claims in terms of this year,
01:33 having the most waiver claims from any other NFL team, six they took from the waiver wire.
01:40 But for the Detroit Lions, they didn't make any waiver claims, and they lost one of their cornerbacks, who performed at a decent level during training camp.
01:48 John, appreciate the insight.