Lions release Theo Riddick

The Detroit Lions have released veteran running back Theo Riddick after six seasons with the team.

"For us, Theo is a great professional, he's a great player, he did a lot of great things for us through the course of the years and we have a lot of respect in the world for everything that he's done. But in any of those situations, we're going to try to do what's best for the team," head coach Matt Patricia said Saturday at training camp, according to Jeremy Bergman of NFL.com.

Riddick has been used as both a rusher and pass-catching back during his time in the Motor City. He caught 61 passes for 384 yards and carried the ball 40 times for 171 yards last season.

His release frees up more playing time for lead back Kerryon Johnson and backups CJ Anderson and Zach Zenner. It also saves the team $3.66 million in cap space.