Dave Birkett

Detroit Free Press

It’s been nearly three months since the Detroit Lions informed Stephen Tulloch that he wasn’t in their plans for 2016, and yet the veteran linebacker is still on their roster.

So why not give one of the team’s longest-tenured and once-upon-a-time most important players his walking papers?

No one in the organization is saying.

General manager Bob Quinn declined to update Tulloch’s situation after last week’s NFL draft, and coach Jim Caldwell refused comment on the topic today.

“I think Bob has talked to you at length about that one, so I won't,” Caldwell said at his pre-rookie-minicamp news conference today.

Quinn, actually, hasn’t spoken much about Tulloch’s future at all.

He said at the NFL’s annual spring meetings in March that he spoke “briefly” with Tulloch about his situation and called it “a contractual issue,” but declined to provide specifics.

“There’s a lot of things that go into the roster decisions and why a guy’s on the team or not on the team at certain times of the year,” Quinn said. “So myself and Matt Harriss and his representative are definitely working through that. So I really have nothing to add."

The Lions paid Tulloch a $500,000 roster bonus that was guaranteed for skill and injury but not for cap reasons in early March, and hoped to recoup something for him in a trade around the draft.

That didn’t happen, obviously, and Tulloch remains on the roster today.

Tulloch has not taken part in voluntary workouts with the Lions this off-season and still doesn't fit in their 2016 plans.

He's scheduled to make $5.5 million this fall, far more than his value as a two-down linebacker, and the Lions re-signed Tahir Whitehead with the intention of having him play Tulloch's old middle linebacker position.

It seems appropriate, given his lack of future in Detroit, that the Lions release Tulloch and let him try to find work elsewhere.

When asked today why that hasn't happened yet, Caldwell had nothing to say.

“Know him and love him," Caldwell said. "But I think Bob’s answered that question."

Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

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