Sometimes you just hear a coach say something and you register it as something that particular coach believes in. Then you hear another coach say a similar thing and it changes from something that one coach is believing in to that’s what this team believes in.
Last Saturday Lions; special teams coordinator Dave Fipp said the days of making the team just based off being good at special teams are over. That means you have to bring multiple things to the table or you’re just not going to make it in Detroit. On Wednesday Dan Campbell echoed that.
“The more you can do, if he can play the SAM linebacker, or certainly a backup linebacker, and he can rush as a defensive end, and he can play some some special teams, well, he’s a lock to go to the game. Like there is no question. But if you’re a one trick pony and you’re okay at that, but you really can’t do this, and you’re not really playing special teams, then, you know, what do we do with it? You know, then he’s just a backup that’s not going to the game. We’re gonna hope that you know, well you got him if somebody gets hurt, and then it’s, is that good enough? So it’s just, it’s always going to be that way. The more you can do your value goes up.”
It looks like the Lions are looking to make things hard on themselves in a good way. They want guys that they have to think twice about making inactive on game day because they bring so much to the table. This is what a good football team does. They get good players and they keep the guys that can serve multiple purposes.
I hate to say it, but the one player that really comes to mind after hearing all of this is James Houston. You’d hate to see it happen, but Houston struggles with the whole one trick pony thing and it’s been a problem for the Lions to find a spot for him.
We know that he can bend and that he can rush the passer because of that ability to bend, but what else can he do? The Lions have been trying to figure that since his rookie season.
The sacks in 2022 really distracted everyone from Houston’s struggles against the run and in coverage. The Lions were hoping to get better results from him at the SAM linebacker position in 2023, but he was second on the depth chart and Lions head coach Dan Campbell said he had a long way to go.
“Yeah, I think, look we’re doing a lot with him at SAM linebacker when we’re in base defense and then certainly he’ll play some of that sub D-end or get a chance to on third down. So, we know he has some ability and craft, but we’re trying to really expand his horizons if you will. Man, if he can play some of this SAM backer, (Lions DL) Charles (Harris) is really the starter right now. It takes – man, he has to dive into the playbook. He has to know the calls. He has to understand all the adjustments to formations, things of that nature and that’s where once he grows, if he can get to that point, now he – potentially, he won’t come off the field, but he has a long way to go before that happens.”
Unfortunately he got injured in Week 2 and that stunted his development. Now we get to year three and he has ground to make up if he wants to prove that he’s not the one trick pony. If he can’t do that, it sounds like there’s a chance he could be cut at the end of August.
The good thing is that he has been working to develop new pass rush moves and he says those moves are coming along and that he’s still putting in more work.
We’ll soon see what everything looks like. But with the rise of Levi Onwuzurkie, a healthy Marcus Davenport, Mathieu Betts, Josh Paschal and Mekhi Wingo playing on the edge some, it’s going to be a battle for sure.