The Detroit Lions announced that they’ve re-signed WR Jace Billingsley and DE George Johnson on Tuesday and waived WR Jared Abbrederis and DE Jacquies Smith.
Abbrederis, 26, is a former fifth-round pick of the Packers back in 2014. He was in the second year of his three-year, $1.575 million contract and set to make a base salary of $525,000 for the 2016 season when the Packers waived from injured reserve with a settlement last October.
The Lions signed Abbrederis to a future/reserve contract this past January.
In 2017, Abbrederis has appeared in seven games for the Lions and caught three passes for 44 yards receiving and no touchdowns.
Smith, 27, originally signed on with the Dolphins as an undrafted free agent out of Missouri back in 2012. He had brief stints with the Jets and Bills before he was waived at the start of the 2014 season and later claimed by the Buccaneers.
Tampa Bay brought Smith back on a one-year exclusive rights contract last year and he returned to the Bucs on a one-year, original-round tender worth $1.797 million for the 2017 season this past May. However, he was cut loose earlier this month.
Smith has been on and off of the Lions’ roster this season.
In 2017, Smith has appeared in one game this season but has yet to record a statistic.
Billingsley, 24, wound up signing a three-year, $1.62 million contract with the Lions as an undrafted free agent out of Eastern Oregon back in May of last year. Unfortunately, the Lions waived him coming out of the preseason and later signed him to their practice squad.
Billingsley was called up toward the end of last year, but was once again among the Lions’ final roster cuts and later added to their practice squad. He has been on and off of their roster this season.
In 2017, Billingsley has appeared in two games but has yet to record a statistic.
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