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The Lions have cut fullback Michael Burton.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

ALLEN PARK -- In an era when most teams are moving away from the fullback, the Detroit Lions went old school by taking Michael Burton in the fifth round of the 2015 draft.

Only Tennessee has taken a fullback higher the three years.

And now, that experiment is over.

The Lions announced Tuesday they have cut Burton to make room for the addition of running back Matt Asiata. They also added guard Connor Bozick, and waived-injured linebacker Brandon Chubb.

Burton was as effective player, including ranking third at the position as a rookie according to ProFootballFocus. But he was drafted to fit in the Joe Lombardi offense, and simply didn't fit into Jim Bob Cooter scheme.

He played just six offensive snaps in the last six games of last year, and was a healthy scratch for the division title game against Green Bay and playoff loss against Seattle.

Now they're just scrapping the position all together.

Asiata joins a backfield already headlined by Ameer Abdullah and Theo Riddick at the top, and will compete with Zach Zenner, Dwayne Washington, Tion Green and Mike James for one of the remaining jobs.