The Lions learned the meaning of second chances with one player in win over the Bucs
How can you not be romantic about football?
The best part of this job is that you get to cover stories that you probably never really see coming. Rewind to June when the now defunct Michigan Panthers were playing in the USFL championship game against the St. Louis Battlehawks. This was the last UFL game of Nick Whiteside’s career.
From there, the question for the former Saginaw Valley corner was what is next? He had a shot with the Washington Commanders before his trip to the UFL, but it never really worked out. He was active for just one game. A month later the Lions signed him and he wowed everyone right away.
The question was who would be that sixth cornerback on the 53-man roster and I think every reporter on that field during training camp would have told you that Whiteside probably has it locked down. Then the Lions cut him at the end of August and surprisingly didn’t bring him back to the practice squad.
Whiteside went the whole first month of the season without a gig. I’ll never know why no team thought to put him on their practice squad. On October 1st the Lions brought him back and on the 11th, he was signed to the 53-man roster out of necessity because of all the injuries. Then…
Nick Whiteside had the game of his life on Monday Night Football against the Bucs
Going into this game, one of the big messages that Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard had for his rag tag group of misfits that he had playing in his secondary was that this could be your chance. This could be the night you show not just the Lions, but the entire league what you can do.
Nobody took that to heart more than Whiteside. He played 40 snaps in this game and he balled out. Whiteside allowed just one catch for 22 yards on five targets and had two pass breakups. One of which was on fourth down in the end zone. Pro Football Focus grades won’t be official till later in the day on Tuesday, but his grade after the game was 90.6. That’s crazy for a guy in his first career start and only his second NFL game.
These are the moments you make your career. Is Whiteside going to be the long term starter? Probably not. Did he just secure a role for himself as a rotational piece and special teams guy for the rest of the season? Probably. Just beautiful stuff. How can you not be romantic about football?
Detroit Lions News
Multiple players get career retribution in big Lions win over the Buccaneers, and the Lions just probably lost another guy
Today we spell retribution W-H-I-T-E-S-I-D-E
