The Detroit Lions have a really good scouting department. Mainly because they have some of the best undrafted rookies in the league this year. I say that not fully knowing what other teams have. This is mostly based on the idea that we’re locked in on these guys more now than we have been in a while and it seems like more than one is going to make it on the Lions 53-man roster.
One guy has been having a really good preseason and camp and he continues to catch the eye of the Lions’ coaching staff. That’s edge rusher Isaac Ukwu out of Ole Miss.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell was asked on Tuesday how far the team was into cementing their roster and how many spots might be still opened up and he said there was about five or six still needing to be filled. He then brought up Ukwu totally unprompted.
“I told the team this morning, you know, for a number of those guys that, man, there’s still open spots here. And so if you want it, go get it. I mean, I just bring up a guy like Ukwu, man, you know, when he got here in the spring, he was last on the depth chart. It was, well, where can this guy play, he’s not the biggest guy, but it’s not really a SAM. Is he a defensive end? Is he and and he’s just steadily gotten better and better and better. And he plays much bigger than he is. He plays longer than his length says. So every time you give him an opportunity, he just shows up. So, you know, he’s, there’s, he’s just an example of some guys we got our eyes on, you know. So there’s, there’s still some spots available here.”
Ukwu had big game against the Giants last Thursday that saw him get a sack and a tackle for a loss while adding two pressures. On Saturday against the Chiefs he got another sack. He’s definitely someone to keep an eye on as the team files down their roster next week. If he can ball out Saturday against the Steelers, he might make it.