Former Chiefs WR Jordan Smallwood signs with Detroit Lions

The Detroit Lions gave wide receiver Jordan Smallwood an opportunity to try out for the team and he took full advantage, earning a spot on the active roster.

Former Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Jordan Smallwood found a new home for at least the next round of evaluations after earning an active roster spot with the Detroit Lions.

Smallwood, a former wideout for the University of Oklahoma, was recently asked to try out for the Lions during the team’s rookie minicamp weekend. The Lions then announced a series of transactions on Sunday to bring aboard both Smallwood and fellow wide receiver Tom Kennedy. To make room, the team decided to part ways with a pair of tight ends in small-school prospect Donald Parham and Nate Becker.

Smallwood has earned several close looks from teams for a player who only had 18 total receptions in his four year college career. In his final season at Oklahoma, Smallwood caught 10 passes for 97 yards. That’s a decent game for most top prospects, let alone a final year’s worth of stats.

That said, Smallwood is a nice physical target who looks the part. He’s got a nice big frame at 6’2, 225 lb. and he ran the 40-yard dash at his pro day in 4.52 seconds. Smallwood earned a couple looks from Kansas City as the team rotated wideout signings last spring (along with Davon Grayson). He failed to make the Chiefs active roster during the regular season, but Smallwood was signed by the San Francisco 49ers to their practice squad back in December.

Smallwood now hopes his third NFL team can be the charm as he attempts to make a team’s regular season active roster for the first time in 2019.