We’ve known for a few days that the Lions are adding running back Matt Asiata to their 90-man roster, but the move did not become official until Tuesday.
That’s when Detroit announced that Asiata will be joining Ameer Abdullah, Theo Riddick, Zach Zenner and Dwayne Washington in the backfield. The former Viking has shown a knack for short yardage work over the years and won’t have to compete with fullback Michael Burton for that role.
The Lions waived their 2015 fifth-round pick on Tuesday as well. Burton played in 31 games over the last two years, but was in on fewer than 10 percent of the offensive snaps last season after playing over 22 percent of the time during his rookie season. He had four carries and six catches as a rookie, but never touched the ball last season.
The Lions signed guard Connor Bozick and waived/injured linebacker Brandon Chubb to round out the day’s moves.