Detroit Lions linebacker Trevor Bates makes PFF’s All-Preseason team

When the Detroit Lions cut their roster down to 53 players Color Rush LeGarrette Blount Jersey , there were plenty of fans who went scrambling to look up who linebacker Trevor Bates was. The 2016 seventh-round pick by the Colts didn’t show up on many training camp observations, and he didn’t make any big eye-popping plays in the preseason. Yet the 25-year-old linebacker made the team over veteran Jonathan Freeny, who was regularly repping ahead of him in camp.So why did Bates make the team? Pro Football Focus offered some clarity after they announced their 2018 NFL All-Preseason Team. Bates actually made the squad, but not as a linebacker. Rather, Bates earned a phenomenal 90.7 grade at special teams according to PFF.“Bates saw playing time in five of the six special teams phases for the Lions this preseason, including 18 snaps on punt or kick coverage,” PFF’s Gordon McGuinness wrote. “From those plays, he registered four tackles, tied for second-most in the NFL this preseason.”Midway through the preseason, the Lions lost Steve Longa for the year due to a torn ACL. Longa was one of the team’s better special teams players last season. Now it appears that role belongs to Bates, and based on his preseason performance, he may be a pretty darn good replacement. UPDATE WELP: The Lions have waived Trevor Bates. However http://www.authenticsdetroitlions.com/cheap-nevin-lawson-jersey , he could return to the team’s practice squad.A Commotion on the Strip: How to bet on NFL Week 1 What a year for the sin of gambling! The gates on sports betting have been battered down, and now if you want to put down figures on a sleazy Thursday night football game, you don’t need to go to Nevada—a land of fading music acts smelling vaguely of minty beef stew. Instead, you can go to Atlantic City! Just what we the doctor ordered.We’re going to check the lines all year long and give you exactly what you need to make a considerable amount of money. No guarantees, no promises, and if you don’t hold me to it I won’t hold you to this baseball bat neither. Now let’s make some picks.Season record: 0-0. All beginnings are endings, all endings are also endings.ATL +1.5 @ PHIThere’s something reassuring, cosmic even, that even a team like the Philadelphia Eagles can win a Super Bowl and immediately fall to injuries and doubt. Somehow I don’t think the Nick Foles cycle continues much longer here, but just enough to give them a taste. Good things just don’t get to happen to teams in the NFC.The past three kickoff games have failed to see the defending champions cover the spread, and you shouldn’t expect too much different this week. Movement on this line is watching bettors run away from Philadelphia.PIT -4 @ CLEAre you worried about Le’Veon Bell’s holdout hamstringing the Steelers offense? Well you shouldn’t be! Asides from the fact that it’s not proper for any working soul to begrudge a man demanding proper compensation for his labor, the Steelers were without Bell in 2015 and did just fine. In 10 matches without him http://www.authenticsdetroitlions.com/cheap-matt-prater-jersey , Pittsburgh averaged 31.9 points per game.MIN vs. SF under 46In time betting the under will vanish from this fair earth, all manner of disagreements resolved, the winter of our discontent and things of that nature. But in this case, I’m happy to think highly of Minnesota’s defense and San Francisco’s struggle to get the offense running will translate into a low-scoring affair.MIA +1.5 vs. TENHome dogs are nice early on in the year, or so I like to believe.CAR -3 vs. DALCall this one a gut play. I see a lot of numbers sites and wise guys liking Carolina and I can’t explain why. I’ll take the Panthers.DEN -3 vs. SEAYou should read this piece by Justis Mosqueda about how Denver is a death trap early in the season. 85 percent winning in the first two weeks is insane, and it’s not a trend limited to just years where they were juggernauts.NYJ +6.5 @ DETI don’t see the value of spotting short of a touchdown to the Lions, but this line has held steady through the week. That’s in spite of all the news that has come for both teams. It’s properly curious for a primetime game. I smell a trap, but this is the first round of picks and I’d be a fool not to include Detroit in here.All the restI just said I hate betting the under, right? It’s a terrible thing, rooting for football to be constrained in numerical functionality. But given the new helmet rules and some particularly curious matchups paired with high totals, there’s a good trend here to take the snake and call it short. I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean.IND -3 vs. CINOAK vs. LAR under 49.5KC +3.5 @ LACBAL vs. BUF over 40.5ARI -1 vs. WASNE -6.5 vs. HOUGB vs. CHI under 47.5NO vs. TB under 49.5NYG +3 vs. JAX