Bellamy on the Lions?
Maybe I'm a little behind here, but while I was ready the box score from the Lions preseason game last night, I saw that Ronald Bellamy had 3 catches for 21 yards, third highest on the team
I understand that preseason means little, if anything. But how cool would it be if he made the Lions? Does anyone know if he has a shot?
He has been on the Lion's practice squad for a few years. He's no longer a spring chicken (25 or 26) but I doubt he will make the active roster. I think the rule is a player can only be on the practice squad for two years and then a team must either promote them to the active roster or get rid of them. His time is up on the PS so its make or break for Bellamy. General rule of thumb is if you can't hack it in college, good luck making an NFL team, especially one that has CJ, Roy, Furrey, and Shaun. The fifth spot is open (and possibly a potential 6th with how the Lions covet receivers) but that's generally reserved for potential return specialists, which Bellamy is not.
You only get 53 guys on your game day roster - subtract one spot for kicker, one for punter, occasionally one for a dedicated kick off specialist, and you have 50 spots. 2 of those are backup QBs, so 48. That's not a lot of depth to keep around guys like Bellamy. If he doesn't have the versatility to play special teams, he doesn't have a convincing argument for being on the active roster.
I wouldn't exactly say Bellamy couldn't hack it in college. He was just a hard guy to figure out. He'd make some big plays, then disappear for long stretches.
Standard snark response would be: Of course he does, its the Lions.
But in all seriousness the Lions have 4 recieving slots locked up, so he has probably as good of a shot as anyone else on the preseason roster of grabbing the 5th (and probably last) WR roster spot.