Allen Park — Amani Oruwariye came into this season with lofty expectations, both externally and for himself, but five weeks into the 2022 campaign he found himself in the most unfamiliar of situations — benched for poor performance.
Fresh off the demotion, the Lions cornerback spent his bye week resetting mentally, returning with the mindset this is just a bump in the road, while trying to recapture the same mindset that helped him previously win a starting job both here and at Penn State.
“I think everyone always has some kind of reflection in their career and this has been mine up to this point, at least in the NFL,” Oruwariye said Wednesday.
To say Oruwariye’s decline in play came out of nowhere would be an understatement. A two-year starter, he held opposing quarterbacks to a completion percentage under 60% when throwing his direction during that stretch. On top of that, he took his playmaking to another level in 2021, finishing third in the NFL with six interceptions.
But this season, in a contract year nonetheless, he’s fallen well short of the standard he’d set. At the time of his benching, he was surrendering a completion nearly three out of every four times the ball came his way. He also had a game where he was flagged six times and he has struggled with his tackling more than ever, whiffing six times in the open field, including on a couple long runs.
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So despite entering the year as one of the defense’s most reliable performers, with the unit struggling on the whole, the Lions opted to pull the plug as part of a larger set of changes ahead of the team’s last game against New England. And not only did they pull Oruwariye from the starting lineup, he was scratched from lineup completely because of his lack of contributions on special teams.
Oruwariye isn’t making any excuses. He said the back injury that held him out of the lineup in Week 2 is a nonfactor, nor is his lingering contract status. He just hasn’t been himself, for whatever reason.
“As a defense, we weren’t playing well,” Oruwariye said. “I could say probably I wasn’t playing as well too. I can admit that.”
Of course, Oruwariye still traveled for that game and had to watch from the sideline as the Lions dealt with several injuries in the secondary, including one to Oruwariye’s replacement, Will Harris.
“Not being on the field to compete with your brothers, especially in a game like that where a lot of guys went down and I probably could have helped out — they probably could have used me — it was tough,” Oruwariye said. “I’m just trying to keep my mental right, trying to keep my physical right, and just be ready for when my name is called.”
When it came to the benching, Lions coach Dan Campbell has made it a point to say the veteran will have every opportunity to earn his job back via practice. And that’s what Oruwariye intends to do, working his way back up the ladder, just as he did when he arrived in Detroit as a fifth-round draft pick in 2019.
During the bye last week, Oruwariye let go of his understandable frustrations by focusing on things outside of football, spending time with family and reflecting on what’s most important before returning to work.
“Me worrying about that isn’t going to do anything for my growth as a player,” he said. “As much as I might be frustrated or whatever it is in the beginning, that’s got to go away as quick as possible and just get back to work.”
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Justin_Rogers