Saturday open thread: Who’s your dark horse pick to make the Detroit Lions roster?

The Detroit Lions got over a third of their roster cuts out of the way on Friday Detroit Lions T-Shirt , parting ways with 12 different players while placing another on injured reserve.But that was the easy part. Saturday is where the Lions are going to have to make some tough choices, like whether to keep Brandon Powell on as a fifth receiver, or deciding how many tight ends to keep on the roster, or figuring out the mess of a situation at offensive line depth. This has been one of the harder seasons to predict the Lions’ final roster, and there’s bound to be a surprise or two left in Bob Quinn’s arsenal. So today’s Question of the Day is:Who is a surprise player you think may end up making the roster?(If you need a reminder of who is still on the roster, check out our Lions cut tracker)My answer: Linebacker Trevor Bates.I was the only one who included Bates as an IN in our final Bubble Watch, and I still stand by it.Granted, Bates played a ton in the preseason finale Detroit Lions Hats , which is usually not a great sign for a player trying to make the team, but the same can be said for Jonathan Freeny—a presumed roster spot holder—who played even more than Bates on Thursday. The Lions are going to keep a fair amount of linebackers on this roster, probably more than many expected. Bates brings prior knowledge to Matt Patricia’s system, having played in New England for over a year. He also has been playing a lot of special teams this preseason. Those are two huge factors that could push him onto the roster as one of the last players in. Your turn.Tweets from https://twitter.com/PrideOfDetroit/lists/lions-coverage The Detroit Lions have a relatively short injury list, and it looks like most of the players that are on it are trending towards playing this week. Of the seven players currently dealing with an injury, five of them were full participants in Thursday’s practice. That includes starting right guard T.J. Lang, who is working his way through concussion protocol. Now that he’s fully participated in practice, he’s very likely to play this week. The same goes for Michael Roberts Detroit Lions Hoodie , who was limited in practice Wednesday, but was full participant Thursday. Roberts has been out since Week 2 but looks like he’ll be ready to return against the Dolphins. However, Ezekiel Ansah remains just limited in practice with a shoulder injury suffered in Week 1. Ansah hasn’t had a full practice since the injury, but—outside of Week 4’s prep—Ansah has been on the practice field every week. At this point, your guess is as good as mine for his availability this week.Lions running back Theo Riddick remains out with a knee injury. Here are the Thursday injury reports for both teams: Lions Thursday injury reportRB Theo Riddick (knee) - No practiceDE Ezekiel Ansah (shoulder) - Limited practiceG T.J. Lang (concussion) - Full practiceTE Michael Roberts (knee) - Full practiceRB Kerryon Johnson (ankle) - Full practiceCB Teez Tabor (groin) - Full practiceS Tavon Wilson (back) - Full practiceDolphins injury reportDE Charles Harris (calf) - No practiceDE Jonathan Woodard (concussion) - No practiceDE Andre Branch (knee) - No practiceCB Bobby McCain (knee) - Limited practiceQB Ryan Tannehill (shoulder) - Limited practiceDE Cameron Wake (knee) - Limited practiceOT Jesse Davis (elbow) - Full practiceTE A.J. Derby (foot) - Full practiceWR Jakeem Grant (shoulder/hamstring) - Full practiceS Reshad Jones (shoulder) - Full practiceS T.J. McDonald (knee) - Full practiceWR DeVante Parker (quad) - Full practice