Welcome to the dead zone Lions fans. OTA's and Mandatory mini camp is over and for the next few weeks, things are going to be quiet in Lions land as we prepare for the start of training camp. 

As we make our way towards camp, we're going to do a deep dive into the Lions entire roster. We'll be doing it section by section and player by player and go over the expectations for each player going into camp. 

Today, we're going to start with the Lions interior defensive linemen, Lets jump right into it. 

Alim McNeil

Let's start it off with the dream himself. McNeil is coming off a nice season that saw him grade out with a very nice 69.8 grade via Pro Football Focus. The highlight of the season for him was him tremendous game against the Giants. 

Going into camp, the expectations are high for McNeil. While he had a good 2022 season, we're all still waiting for him to break out. This offseason it seems like he's done the work to make sure that happens, McNeil has dropped 13% of his body fat so he could try to be faster and improve his pass rushing abilities. Look for McNeil to to really show up at camp and look for Peter Schrager to butcher his name for the second year in a row.  

Isaiah Buggs

Buggs was a bit of a surprise last season. He was brough in just before camp as a way for the Lions to make up for their lack of girth along the interior. I'm not sure anyone expected him to play much of a role at that time. 

Buggs stepped up big as a leader in the clubhouse and on the field. He brought his run stopping ability to the table in the second half of the season when the Lions needed it the most. The expectations here should be that he does the same at camp. Buggs is a guy that just flat out works hard and expects that the players around him do the same. That leadership is great around such a young group. 

Benito Jones

Jones is an interesting one. The Lions were expected by everyone to go out and grab more interior help during free agency and the draft and they didn't do it to the point that everyone expected them to. That may have saved Jones his spot on the team. It at least gave him a chance to go out and keep it at camp. 

Jones did play all 17 games for the Lions last year, but he did so has a backup and when he got in, he didn't do much of note. Jones is a contender for a roster spot, but if one of the younger players can have a great camp, he could very well find himself playing for another team in 2023. 

Brodric Martin

Martin is another interesting case. While the draft expert world expected him to go much later, the Lions saw something they really liked in the guy from western Kentucky and they traded up to get him in third round of the 2023 NFL Draft. 

The expectations set by where he was drafted say that he's a lock to make the 53 man roster, but he'll still need to show what it was that made the Lions draft him so high. I believe he'll do enough of that at camp to find himself in a position to flex in and out in his rookie year. 

Christian Covington

I think what the Lions are hoping for here is another Isaiah Buggs or John Comminsky type situation. The Lions have been a good at taking square peg players and fitting them into their scheme. 

Covington does have some starting experience. He started 14 games for the Bengals in 2020. It's been a downward trend since then. He started three games for the Chargers in 2021 and then an injury shortened his season to four games and no starts in 2022. 

Being that he's 29 years old, he's on the wrong side of things. Covington might just be in Detroit to survey what he has left and to get some tape out there for the next team that's interested in him. 

Levi Onwuzurike

This isn't going to be a popular sentiment, but for a while now, my gut feeling on Onwuzurike is that he never plays for the Lions again. They have been working with him and his injury for two seasons now and while he did play 16 games his rookie year, he dealt with his back injury that season as well. 

I hope I'm wrong. I really do. There was some encouragement last week when he took part in mandatory mini camp activities. Until he suits up for training camp, I have to stay out on him right now. 

The Fringe

The Lions grabbed two undrafted rookies in North Carolina State's Cory Durden and Notre Dame's Chris Smith. They'll have their work cut out for them. Perhaps one of them can pop enough to find themselves on the practice squad. 

Featured image by Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK