Lions Tried Out 6 Players Including LBs Jamari Lattimore & Joplo Bartu

The Detroit Lions brought in six players for tryouts on Wednesday including RB Joique Bell, WR Aaron Dobson, LB Joplo Bartu, LB James-Michael Johnson, LB Zaviar Gooden and LB Jamari Lattimore.

• Dave Birkett reported last night that the Lions are signing Gooden to their practice squad.

Lattimore, 27, originally signed on with the Packers as an undrafted free agent out of Middle Tennessee State back in 2011. He played out his rookie contract before returning to Green Bay on a one-year, restricted deal back in 2014.

The Jets elected to sign Lattimore to a contract last year. However, he later signed on with the Bills signed this past May but wound up being among their final roster cuts coming out of the preseason.

In 2015, Lattimore appeared 15 games for the Jets and recorded 13 tackles and no sacks.

Bartu, 25, signed on with the Falcons as an undrafted free agent out of Texas State back in May. He managed to make the 53-man roster coming out of the preseason and spent a few months with the team before he was placed on waivers in November of last year.

The Jaguars signed him to a contract towards end of last season before waiving him a few weeks ago during roster cuts.

In 2015, Bartu has appeared in nine games and recorded 12 tackles for the Falcons and Jaguars.

Gooden, 25, is a former third-round pick of the Titans back in 2013. He had two years remaining on his four-year, $2.681 million rookie contract that included a $506,016 signing bonus. He was set to make a base salary of $590,000 for the 2015 season.

Gooden, unfortunately, sustained a torn hamstring last August that led to him being placed on injured reserve at the start of the season. The Lions brought him back shortly after this year’s draft only to cut him loose coming out of the preseason.

In 2014, Gooden appeared in 15 games for the Titans and recorded 24 tackles and no sacks.