Chang cut as Lions
trim roster

Former Hawaii quarterback Tim Chang was released by the Detroit Lions yesterday, just five days after he signed with the team as a free agent.

Chang was among 15 players released as the Lions trimmed their roster to 72.

The Saint Louis School graduate was among five quarterbacks on the Lions roster behind starter Joey Harrington and backups Jeff Garcia, Dan Orlovsky and Todd Mortensen. Orlovsky and Mortensen are both rookies.

"My conversation with him was that we brought him in to take a look at him," Lions coach Steve Mariucci said on the team's Web site. "We had to waive one of the quarterbacks because we had five and that's a little heavy for now."

Mariucci said Harrington and Garcia could see limited playing time in Detroit's preseason game against Buffalo on Friday, and if Orlovsky got hurt, Chang wouldn't be ready to finish the game.

"He hasn't practiced enough for us to get anything done," Mariucci said.

"He understood and we had a chance to meet with him and get to know him a little bit and if it ever came up that we wanted his arm here as a practice squad guy then he knows more about us and we know more about him."

Chang is the NCAA's all-time passing leader with 16,910 yards. He went undrafted and signed with the Arizona Cardinals as a free agent. He was cut by the Cardinals on Aug. 9 and signed with the Lions last Thursday.