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The Detroit Lions have signed Nate Ness, who spent some time in Carolina's camp last year (pictured).

ALLEN PARK -- Cory Greenwood had an excused absence the past two days.

But now he's out of job.

The Detroit Lions announced Friday morning they released Greenwood to make room for the signing of defensive back Nate Ness.

Coach Jim Caldwell said Greenwood's exit wasn't related to a neck injury that had sidelined the linebacker last year.

"It's just one of those things where we have to look every single day at our roster, make a determination on changes we have to make," Caldwell said after practice. "It's going to be that way constantly. We're constantly churning, finding ways to get better.

"Sometimes we get a little thin at spots, and other spots we think are fairly healthy, so we have to make adjustments."

The Lions are at full strength at linebacker, and have entrenched starters in DeAndre Levy and Stephen Tulloch. The only uncertainty pits a returner (Ashlee Palmer) against promising second-round draft pick Kyle Van Noy.

Tahir Whitehead and Travis Lewis also are back in reserve roles and could be core special teams players. Whitehead was the team's special teams MVP last year.

The Lions weren't as deep at defensive back, where they made no major offseason acquisitions, then parted with projected starter Chris Houston due to uncertainty over an injured toe.

Detroit now has added a defensive back on consecutive days leading up to the preseason opener Saturday against Cleveland. Drayton Florence, who spent a season with the team in 2012, was added Thursday and is No. 30.

Ness broke into the league as an undrafted free agent out of Arizona in 2009, but has played in only eight games. Half of those games came with St. Louis in 2011.

The 6-foot-1, 190-pound defensive back spent part of the spring with Detroit before getting released.