Eric O’Neill has a shot at making the Lions’ 53-man roster, but does he find himself in the same problem that James Houston was in?
Eric O’Neill keeps making plays for the Detroit Lions, and Dan Campbell admits he’s becoming “hard to ignore.” But one question Detroit is still trying to answer sounds VERY familiar. Could O’Neill be heading toward the same dilemma the Lions once had with James Houston?
Last Thursday night during the Detroit Lions preseason game against Cincinnati, I walked out of that stadium thinking I needed to start watching more Eric O’Neill film. I felt like I had slept on him this whole time. Then Monday’s practice hit, and the undrafted rookie grabbed an interception, kept pressuring quarterback Luke Altmyer, and kept showing up. The Lions defensive roster battle is heating up, and O’Neill is forcing the coaching staff to pay attention.
Dan Campbell was asked about O’Neill during Thursday’s press conference, and here’s what he had to say:
“He’s a guy that makes plays every day. He’s pretty sneaky, he’s crafty, A little bit of him is ‘what is he?’ You know, that’s what— and we’re still trying to answer that a little bit, man. Where does he really fit? What really suits him? It’s not stack backer, but yet can it be on the line, kind of an OLB? Or is it D-end, like a rush D-end? I know this, he’s smart, he plays hard, he’s pretty crafty. He’s got some tools in his toolbox as a rusher, and he just kind of makes plays every day. So it’s hard to— he’s another guy, it’s hard to ignore him, you know. And I don’t want to say quiet, I think I’ve mentioned him before. I mean, he’s— you saw the interception the other day in that night practice we had. And he had a good rush. He had some good plays in the Cincinnati game. So he’s intriguing. And some of it is really fit. Now, where does he— and special teams, by the way. He makes plays on special teams every day. So yes, we like him.” — Dan Campbell
The James Houston comparison
When I heard Campbell say all of that, the first thing that came to mind was James Houston. You have to go back to 2022 with me for a second. Houston was a late-round draft pick the Lions brought in, and it was clear he could show up in practice. But Detroit had the same question then that they have now with O’Neill: we know he can pass rush, but what can he do beyond that?
Houston went from being labeled an edge rusher to the Lions trying to make him a Sam linebacker. That transition killed his time in Detroit because the coaching staff didn’t know where to put him. When you’re in that kind of position, the whole idea is to find a spot where you can maximize a player’s potential and abilities. The Lions felt like Houston could pass rush but wasn’t good against the run, and he was decent enough in coverage, so they tried the Sam linebacker experiment. It didn’t work.
That same thought process could be where O’Neill is headed. I haven’t seen a whole lot of him against the run. I have seen him in a pass rush setting and in coverage. He could potentially play that Sam linebacker role, though Campbell didn’t mention it specifically, though.
The similarities to Houston’s situation are hard to ignore. Both guys play special teams at a high level. Both guys can get after the quarterback. Both guys leave the coaching staff asking, “But what else?”
What Detroit should do differently this time
If I were the Lions, I would keep it simple. I know O’Neill can play special teams well, and I know he can be a pass rush specialist. So just make him a pass rush specialist. Bring him on the field in passing downs and let him eat.
I get the counterargument. Detroit didn’t want Houston to have to come off the field. They wanted him in a position where he could stay out there every snap. It didn’t work in Detroit, and it’s not exactly working in Dallas either. The Cowboys use Houston as a pass rush specialist who only gets on the field sometimes. Lions fans will point to the fact that Houston sacked Jared Goff when Detroit played Dallas last year, but that’s not what he could have been or what the Lions wanted him to be.
O’Neill has a long way to go before he can be an every-down player. I have a lot of faith that he can make this team, and I think he has a real shot at the 53-man roster. My concern is that the Lions are going to try him at a bunch of different spots and hope one sticks, rather than just saying, “We know he can do this, so let him do it.”
By the same token, I get that telling a guy to just be a pass rusher and never grow his game isn’t good for the player or the team. When it’s an undrafted rookie, though, it’s not like you have to pay a lot of money for the experiment. Get him on the practice squad, get him on the 53-man roster, get him some reps. Who knows what he can become. We’ll see.
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