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USA Today
05-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Current and former Lions on the CFL negotiation list include two former Detroit draftees
The Canadian Football League has an interesting tool for player acquisitions that could impact one current Lions player and several former Lions in 2025. CFL clubs are permitted to acquire the exclusive Canadian rights to active NFL players. The negotiation list only comes into effect if the player decides to pursue the CFL instead of the NFL. Oftentimes, being listed on the CFL negotiating list means absolutely nothing other than a secondary option for an NFL player, but it can produce some interesting choices for players who are on the fringes of NFL rosters like Detroit's. The nine CFL franchises can place up to 45 players each on their negotiation list. The only current Lions player whose CFL rights are claimed (as of July 5th) is running back Anthony Tyus. The undrafted rookie from Ohio University is likely poised to battle for a practice squad spot in Detroit behind the foursome of RBs that return from a year ago (Gibbs, Montgomery, Reynolds, Vaki). Tyus is from Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers claimed Tyus's CFL rights. Wideout Antoine Green is the most notable other name. Green was a seventh-round pick by the Lions in 2023 and had a good chance to carve out a bigger role for himself in 2024 before suffering a serious brain injury in a preseason game last summer. The Lions waived Green with a "failed physical" designation after the 2025 NFL Draft, following a year where the big receiver from North Carolina was on the Lions' injured reserve. Green is one of two former Lions whose CFL rights are claimed by the Saskatchewan Rough Riders. The other is a blast from the past: Defensive end Austin Bryant. A fourth-round pick by the Lions in 2019, Bryant played 33 games in four seasons with Detroit, bagging 4.5 sacks--all in 2021. He was last with the 49ers in 2023. Linebacker Abraham Beauplan, who played 45 snaps on Detroit's special teams in 2024, and safety Brady Breeze are former Lions whose rights are claimed by the Calgary Stampeders. Quarterback Adrian Martinez, a training camp aspirant in 2023 who is currently on the New York Jets' 90-man roster, is claimed by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Martinez won the 2024 UFL Most Valuable Player award as a member of the Birmingham Stallions. The CFL list is a fluid one, so changes could come frequently between now and NFL roster cutdowns in late August.
Miami Herald
04-05-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Rested Thunder prepare to host battle-tested Nuggets in Game 1
It's been nine days since the Oklahoma City Thunder last played. The Denver Nuggets are coming off a grueling seven-game series against the Clippers that ended just Saturday night. That contrast in schedules may be a factor as the Thunder and Nuggets meet in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinals on Monday night in Oklahoma City. Both teams are looking to advance further than they did last season, when both lost in the second round -- the Thunder to Dallas and Denver to Minnesota. The series will feature two of the three finalists for the NBA Most Valuable Player award, which figures to be announced at some point during the series. Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver's Nikola Jokic are the finalists. Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 30.3 points and 6.5 assists per game in four meetings against the Nuggets this season. While the Thunder swept Memphis in the first round, including winning the series opener by 51, Gilgeous-Alexander was slow to get going against the Grizzlies. But after shooting just 35.3 percent in the first three games of that series, Gilgeous-Alexander rebounded to score 38 on 13-of-24 shooting in the series clincher on April 26. Jokic, a three-time MVP, averaged 24 points, 11.6 rebounds and 10.1 assists in the Nuggets' first-round series. Jokic had a pair of triple-doubles against the Thunder this season, and scored 35 on 15-of-20 shooting in their last meeting March 10. The series also features the present -- and future -- of the Thunder franchise against its past. Gilgeous-Alexander came to Oklahoma City in July 2019 after spending his rookie season with the Clippers. Less than a week later, Russell Westbook -- who along with Kevin Durant helped the Thunder become a playoff regular -- was traded to Houston. Westbrook no longer has the same explosiveness that made him a triple-double machine, but he showed in the first round that there is still gas left in the tank. In the first-round series, Westbrook shot nearly 42 percent from beyond the arc and averaged 13.8 points per game off the bench. "You have to account for the fact that he's gonna come in the game ready to rock and the pace of the game is gonna go up," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. "He's gonna be trying to make something happen right off the bat and you can't be flat-footed." Westbrook played a key role in Game 7 against the Clippers, helping Denver create some separation in the second quarter. "My ability to be a force of nature on the floor is what I pride myself on," Westbrook said. "So, whatever that looks like -- it may be a turnover, it may be a missed shot, but it may be a steal, it may be a dunk, it may be a missed three, it may be a made three. It's gonna be all of that. So, just take it for how it comes, and whatever happens you go with it." The teams split their four games in the regular season, including splitting back-to-back games in early March in Oklahoma City in their last meetings. The Thunder won 127-103 on March 9 with the Nuggets winning 140-127 a day later. But all of those games came before Denver's surprising late-season move to fire coach Michael Malone. Daigneault said he expected the Nuggets to look different than they did against the Clippers. "I mean, good data point," he said of studying Denver's first-round series. "It gives you a good understanding of how they play against the Clippers, but it doesn't give you a good understanding of how they play against us. This series will have its own face." The series will be the first playoff meeting between the teams since 2011, when Oklahoma City -- with the help of nearly 24 points per game from Westbrook -- beat the Nuggets in five games. --Field Level Media Field Level Media 2023 - All Rights Reserved
