Lions camp preview: Defensive line additions create some tough battles and decisions

McNeill is poised for a very big season after a breakout 2023 where the big man recorded a career-high five sacks. Now entering a contract year, McNeill could threaten a Pro Bowl berth and a lucrative deal. The talent and potential are there for No. 54 in his fourth season in Detroit.

The most important addition to the Lions defensive roster–at least in theory. A consummate professional of a veteran nose tackle, Reader has played in a variety of defensive schemes and he’s at his best in a facilitating, space-eating role like the one Detroit has set for him. We might not see Reader much, if at all, in training camp as he recovers from a torn quad, but he’s expected to be fine once the games count in the standings.

Reader and McNeill are the projected starters and could be one of the best DT tandems in the league. Could be…

Cominsky played almost 500 of his 661 snaps in 2023 on the defensive interior, a sharp contrast from his first season in Detroit when he played nearly 60 percent at end/EDGE. He’s always been a positional tweener at 6-5 and in the 280-pound range. Cominsky will need to impact the passer more from the B-gap and be more active in run defense if he wants to see 500-plus snaps in 2024, the final year on his Detroit contract. Yet Cominsky has shown he can do those things well, and the coaches trust him. Big summer for No. 79.

Now two years removed from spinal fusion surgery, it’s still somewhat remarkable Onwuzurike is able to try and play at all. He’s shown progress as an interior pass rusher and the physique is impressive for being almost 300 pounds. It’s the final year of Onwuzurike’s contract he signed as a second-round rookie in 2021. Pad level (first move is often up instead of forward) and gap integrity continued to be inconsistent in minicamp and OTAs, and he’ll need to iron those out if he wants to see more than the 164 snaps he got in 2023.

A fifth-round rookie who was consistently a load for offensive linemen in the SEC at LSU, Wingo is gunning for one of the reserve roles that Onwuzurike and Cominsky held last year. While he’s short and light for the spots, Wingo understands how to use his body to his advantage. He’s got some capability to line up, like Josh Paschal, as a heavy stand-up EDGE — we saw it in minicamp and Wingo pulled it off impressively.

A veteran who signed with little fanfare this offseason, the 31-year-old (when camp starts) Peko is an experienced A/B gap player who doesn’t get moved off the point of attack easily. Peko is not a pass rusher; he has just two sacks and 17 QB hits in almost 900 career snaps across several teams.

Peko initially appears to be insurance for Reader’s injury, but his experience playing under new Lions DL coach Terrell Williams in Tennessee should not be discounted. He’s the most natural man-for-man replacement (aside from Reader) currently on the roster for Benito Jones, who played over 800 snaps the last two years in that immovable object interior role.

The biggest enigma, quite literally, on the entire roster is Martin as he enters his second season. Martin has lost some of the heft he carried as a rookie, but he’s still a large man.

Martin was not ready as a third-round rookie from Western Kentucky. Pad level, foot quickness and hand usage were all not up to NFL standards. As a result, “BroMart” was a healthy scratch most weeks. He is Terrell Williams’ pet project in 2024, but his roster spot is not guaranteed. Having said that, the potential GM Brad Holmes saw in the top 100 in the 2023 NFL Draft would be very difficult to abandon unless Martin is really lost in camp and preseason.

The issue with Martin is this: who doesn’t make the 53-man roster because of him? There are only four roster spots that appear to be open for the interior DL, maybe five if the Lions only keep nine offensive linemen or three running backs or five cornerbacks. Martin enters camp firmly behind Reader, McNeill, Cominsky, Wingo and Onwuzurike. At least one of those players will not make it if Martin does.

Smith faces very steep odds to make the 53-man roster, but the second-year UDFA from Notre Dame has shown enough in practices to stick on the Lions practice squad for another year. He’s got a nice first step and fights past the whistle as an interior pass rusher.