Detroit Lions: Final 53-man roster

The Lions opt to keep rookie QB Kellen Moore.

By John Kreger

Sep 1, 2012 at 1:54 am ET • 2 min read

The Detroit Lions released 21 players before Friday's NFL roster deadline, and will be in compliance with the 53-man roster limit when RB Mikel Leshoure is moved to the suspension list by the league.

WR Patrick Edwards appeared to be the final player released by the team. Edwards had a solid camp, and the Lions were expected to take six WRs. He was likely a victim of the roster numbers game when Detroit chose to keep third QB Kellen Moore.

Final roster:

QB (3) -- Matthew Stafford (4th year, Georgia), Shaun Hill (11th year, Maryland), Kellen Moore (R, Undrafted, Boise State).

RB (4) -- Kevin Smith (5th year, Central Florida), Joique Bell (2nd year, Wayne State), Keiland Williams (3rd year, LSU), Stefan Logan (4th Year, South Dakota).

TE (3) -- Brandon Pettigrew (4th year, Oklahoma State), Tony Scheffler (7th year, Western Michigan), Will Heller (10th year, Georgia Tech).

WR (5) -- Ryan Broyles (r, 2nd round, Oklahoma), Calvin Johnson (6th yr, Georgia Tech), Nate Burleson (10th year, Nevada), Kassim Osgood (9th year, San Diego State), Titus Young (2nd year, Boise State).

OL (9) -- Dominic Raiola (12th year, Nebraska), Dylan Gandy (7th year, Texas Tech), Stephen Peterman (8th year, LSU), Rob Sims (7th year, Ohio State), Jeff Backus (12th year, Michigan), Gosder Cherilus (5th year, Boston College), Jason Fox (3rd year, Miami), Corey Hilliard, (4th year, Oklahoma State), Riley Reiff (r, 1st round, Iowa).

DL (9) -- Cliff Avril (5th year, Purdue), Lawrence Jackson (5th year, USC), Ronnell Lewis (R, 4th round, Oklahoma), Kyle Vanden Bosch (12th year, Nebraska), Willie Young (3rd year, NC State), Nick Fairley (2nd year, Auburn), Sammie Hill (4th year, Stillman), Ndamukong Suh (3rd year, Nebraska), Corey Williams, (9th year, Arkansas State).

LB (7) -- Justin Durant (6th year, Hampton), Doug Hogue (2nd year, Syracuse), Travis Lewis (R, 7th round, Oklahoma), DeAndre Levy, (4th year, Wisconsin), Ashlee Palmer (4th year, Mississippi), Stephen Tulloch (7th year, NC State), Tahir Whitehead (R, 5th round, Temple).

DB (10) -- Bill Bentley (R, 3rd round, Louisiana Lafayette), Jonte Green (r, 6th round, New Mexico State), Chris Houston (6th year, Arkansas), Jacob Lacey (4th year, Oklahoma State), Louis Delmas (4th year, Western Michigan), Erik Coleman (9th year, Washington State), Amari Spievey (3rd year, Iowa), John Wendling (6th year, Wyoming), Ricardo Silva (2nd year, Hampton), Kevin Barnes (4th year, Maryland)