The Detroit Lions will be heading to training camp a few weeks from now and it's at camp that some players are going to have to really prove themselves if they hope to nail down spots on the roster or even play meaningful snaps if they do make the roster. This team is good now. Everyone isn't guaranteed anything anymore.

With that in mind, we went down the roster and picked the four Lions that have the most to prove this summer if they hope to have an impact in 2024. 

James Houston

Houston had a killer rookie year on paper. He had 8.5 sacks that year. The expectation was that he would be a big part of the Lions pass rush in 2023, but by the time we got to camp, Houston was in a situation where he didn’t really have a position and he was behind Charles Harris on the depth chart. The near season long injury he suffered in Week 2 did him no favors in his development either. 

Now Houston has to come out and have a good camp and show that he has developed into a player that can be on the field for more than just a Nascar package here and there. Can he be a player that becomes a starter?

Levi Onwuzurkie

Onwuzurkie has had a rough go of it during his short career. A back injury held him out of his sophomore season and there were serious concerns at one point that he would never play again. 

As we know, he did. Onwuzurike returned to the Lions in 2023 and partook at training camp and was a part of the defensive line rotation for much of the season until he was taken out of that rotation and was a healthy scratch for a few games.

This is a big camp for him. We're nearly a couple years removed from the back surgery he had done and he was a full participant in OTAs and minicamp. Lions head coach Dan Campbell even noted that he had very good spring. If he can turn that into a good summer, we might be seeing a lot more of Onwuzrike. If he can't, you have to wonder if he's on the roster in 2024. 

John Cominsky

Another pass rusher. It almost seems like this is an article about the defensive line or something. The fact is that Cominsky had a really good 2022 and then followed it up with a not so good 2023. He sort of went missing for most of the year. 

Now he's in the final year of his deal and it's not going to break the Lions bank if they decided to cut him at the end of camp. Hopefully with the help of new Lions defensive line coach Terrell Williams, that won't be something that the team will have to consider. 

Donovan Peoples-Jones

The Lions lost Josh Reynolds to the Broncos during free agency and the early belief was that Donovan Peoples-Jones could potentially take on the role that Reynolds was successful at for the Lions. 

So far through spring, the reviews haven't been all that great for Peoples-Jones and it seems he's gone from a guy that could be the third receiver to a guy that's competing for a spot on the roster at camp. 

Camp has to be where Peoples-Jones really has to show it becasue Lions GM Brad Holmes has already talked about bringing in more receivers. The competition is only going to get deeper. Maybe even to the point where Peoples-Jones becomes an afterthought.  

4 Lions players that could easily be successful at different positions

A couple weeks back at Detroit Lions mandatory minicamp, Dan Campbell brought up the idea of Lions defensive tackle Alim McNeill playing fullback.  "Mac can do it. It's just a matter of do you want to do that? He can do it. It's just, alright how many plays did he just play on this last […]