Why Levi Onwuzurike’s Lions Release May Be Temporary

Levi Onwuzurike 's release from the Detroit Lions on Friday looked, at first glance, like the end of his time in Detroit.

Dave Birkett raised a much more interesting possibility after the move: Detroit could be using the calendar and NFL contract rules to avoid guaranteeing Onwuzurike's entire 2026 base salary, then bring him back almost immediately.

That possibility deserves attention because Onwuzurike is a vested veteran entering the season on a $1.215 million base salary with no existing salary guarantee , according to Over the Cap's contract breakdown .

Detroit had already surprised some observers by keeping Onwuzurike on the initial 53-man roster after an offseason in which his future was anything but secure.

Now the Lions may simply be manipulating the timing of that roster spot.

Why Week 1 Changes the Financial Equation

The key is the NFL's termination-pay rule.

Under Article 30 of the NFL-NFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement , a veteran with at least four credited seasons who makes his team's active/inactive list for the first regular-season game can become eligible for termination pay covering the unpaid balance of his base salary if he is later released.

In simpler terms, keeping Onwuzurike on the active roster Sunday could expose Detroit to paying his full $1.215 million salary even if it decided several weeks later that it no longer needed him.

Releasing him beforehand removes that Week 1 protection.

That makes Birkett's theory entirely plausible from a roster-management standpoint. Pride of Detroit's analysis of the move also raised the possibility that Onwuzurike could return quickly rather than treating Friday's transaction as an obvious goodbye.

This kind of maneuver is not unprecedented around the NFL. Teams have long waited until after the opener to sign vested veterans because the financial exposure changes once Week 1 passes.

Detroit has a reason to care about that with Onwuzurike in particular.

His injury history is not exactly a footnote.

Here is where the scenario gets particularly interesting.

Because Onwuzurike is a vested veteran, Detroit could theoretically sign him to the practice squad Saturday. Current NFL roster rules allow teams to temporarily elevate up to two practice-squad players for a game, which can increase the active/inactive roster to 54 or 55 players. NFL Football Operations explains the standard-elevation mechanism .

That means one possible sequence looks like this:

Detroit releases Onwuzurike Friday, signs him to the practice squad Saturday, elevates him for Sunday against New Orleans , then decides what to do with him after Week 1.

He could conceivably play Sunday without being on the 53-man roster in the way that would trigger the same termination-pay protection.

That is a remarkably specific piece of roster accounting, but Brad Holmes has never been shy about using every available mechanism.

And Detroit has extra incentive to maintain flexibility after Onwuzurike's medical history. His career has already included major back problems and a torn ACL, and his availability was a central reason he entered the offseason as a legitimate Lions roster bubble candidate .

There is one problem with the clever-contract-theory interpretation.

Detroit might simply prefer other defensive linemen.

The Lions are deeper up front than they have been in years, with Alim McNeill , Tyleik Williams , Mekhi Wingo , Derrick Moore , D.J. Wonnum , Tyler Lacy , Skyler Gill-Howard, Ahmed Hassanein and Eric O'Neill among the options surrounding Aidan Hutchinson .

Onwuzurike's 2024 season showed why Detroit kept betting on him. His physical traits can still create interior pressure when he is healthy. The question is how much confidence the Lions have that he will stay healthy and outperform younger, cheaper options.

But until Saturday's practice-squad moves arrive, I would not close the book.