SB Nation - Anthony Cannon

Lions Sign TE Will Heller, Release LB Anthony Cannon

Sean Yuille — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:39:25 -0000

The Lions signed free agent tight end Will Heller and released linebacker Anthony Cannon. Heller played for the Seahawks the last three seasons. Cannon has been on and off the Lions' roster since he was drafted in 2006. This move adds depth to the tight end position, but it also may suggest that L.J. Smith is no longer an option, which would be interesting considering it looks like his deal with the Falcons fell apart earlier today. I'm not sure if Smith could still be signed, but maybe the Lions assumed he was headed to Atlanta and decided to sign Heller. I don't know if they would sign Smith as well, but I imagine we will know in a few days.

Sunday Notes: Lions Sign Cannon, Release Gardner

Sean Yuille — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 14:43:15 -0000

The Lions signed linebacker Anthony Cannon yesterday and released Gilbert Gardner, a linebacker that was on the injury report. Cannon didn't make the team after Gardner essentially beat him out for the last linebacker spot, but the one-time Lion is back to play special teams. He had the fifth-most special teams tackles last season, and with Kalvin Pearson starting in place of the injured Dwight Smith, there was a need for added depth on special teams. (Pearson is a great special teams player.)
Damion Cook will start at left guard on Sunday. He replaced Edwin Mulitalo last week and gets to keep the starting job after a good performance.
As mentioned earlier this week, Gosder Cherilus will likely start at right tackle.
Safety Gerald Alexander, who is already on the IR, will have surgery sometime next week to fix a cracked vertebra and a disc injury.
From the sounds of it, the Lions are going to try to get Calvin Johnson the ball more often.
Instead of the Lions-Redskins game, FOX 2 (out of Detroit) will broadcast the movie Best Laid Plans. As Dave Birkett points out, someone working for FOX 2 has a sense of humor given the name of the movie. The Lions definitely do not have the best laid plans, which is sort of why their game got blacked out.
Roy Williams' contract with the Cowboys actually includes $19.5 million of guaranteed money, which differs from a previous report.

Lions Add Two Players, Release Cannon and McHugh

Sean Yuille — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 21:50:28 -0000

Even though the Lions got their roster down to 53 players yesterday, it was expected that there would still be some more moves made before the roster is finalized heading into the regular season. The reason for that is because the Lions and all other NFL teams keep a close eye on who gets released as there may be players out there that can come in and make the team better. Detroit felt that there were two worth picking up as they decided to sign linebacker Ryan Nece and claim running back Marcus Thomas.

To make room on the roster for Nece and Thomas, the Lions released linebacker Anthony Cannon and tight end/fullback Sean McHugh. Basically Cannon was swapped out for Nece, who will come in without any learning curve since he has played for the Buccaneers in all six years of his career. Nece knows the Tampa-2 and Lions defensive coordinator Joe Barry knows Nece as he coached him from 2001-2006.

The move to release a tight end in exchange for a running back also makes sense. When the Lions announced their cuts yesterday it was very surprising to see that only two running backs made the team. Looking back, though, it is pretty clear that they were going to pick up someone, but kept only two running backs to keep more depth at other positions for the time being. That gave the Lions more flexibility until they found an extra RB, and that extra RB is Marcus Thomas, who was cut by the Chargers yesterday. Thomas is entering his first year in the NFL as he was drafted by San Diego in the fifth-round of this year's draft.