The Lions cut DE Matthieu Betts, who was last year's CFL defensive MVP. Who would have guessed that the NFL is a perfectly fluid labor market (despite the waterfall of constant draft busts), where the best CFL player is just a little bit 'not good enough' for the next level.
On a positive note for the Lions (who also cut Tom Kennedy as mentioned as well as a few other whites players), they kept Ben Niemann going into the season. This gives them 4/6 white linebackers (also counting Jack Campbell, Alex Anzalone, and Malcolm Rodriguez), which has to put them right at the unspoken limit for honkey defenders. They are also rostering John Cominsky, although he's out most of the year, and of course feature Hutchinson as their centerpiece.