The one edge rusher trait Dan Campbell can’t stop talking about — and why the Lions prioritized it
Detroit Lions aren’t hiding the priority anymore. Dan Campbell and Kelvin Sheppard keep emphasizing one edge rusher trait above all else — and it explains every move Detroit made this offseason.
We have to be honest, this one went right under my nose, and we didn’t fully notice it until Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell brought it up in Thursday morning’s press conference.
The Lions have gotten a lot longer and bigger at edge rusher this offseason
“…Man, we got some guys now, you know, between (D.J.) Wonnum and (Payton) Turner, and this pup, (Anthony) Lucas… like we got some length now, we got some size and length and athletic ability on the perimeter.” Campbell said. “(Tyler) Lacy is that, but he’s a little bit more of that big in big stacked, but we’re, we are big, we are long, and so you can’t wait for training camp, you know, that’s that’s you just can’t wait.”
Then, minutes later, defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard echoed the same sentiment
“The biggest thing that stands out is the size,” Sheppard said. “The length: it’s what you look for these days. What compliments the werewolf we have?”
Length and size off the edge isn’t just about looking the part. It changes how an entire defense functions. When you’ve got rushers with real reach and mass, you’re shrinking throwing lanes before the snap even turns into a pass rush. Tackles can’t just lock into their set points and ride guys past the pocket; they’ve got to deal with bodies that can actually reset the edge and compress space instead of just trying to win around it.
It also gives you more answers in the run game, where bigger edge defenders can set a firmer edge and keep everything inside the numbers instead of letting offenses bounce runs clean. And in a league where quarterbacks are getting the ball out faster than ever, that kind of length matters because it lets you affect vision and timing without always needing clean wins around the corner. It’s not flashy, but it’s the kind of trait that makes everything else in the defense work cleaner.
When you look at the sizes of some of these guys, you see Wonnum standing at 6-foot-5 with 34 1/4 inch arms that are significantly longer than your average edge’s arm length. Then you have Turner at a shorter 6-foot, but with 35 1/2 inch arms. Lucas is 6-foot-5 with 33 1/2 inch arms. Lastly, you have Derrick Moore at 6-foot-3 with 33 3/8 inch arms.
These guys are long and have long arms that can wrap around guys. There is no question that the Lions got way longer than they were last year, and they also got a lot deeper with this type of player. The investments were certainly made to improve the pay for thier edges.
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