The Detroit Lions defensive line was one of the biggest question marks heading into training camp. Two weeks into camp, though, the picture is becoming a lot clearer. And honestly, I think I spent a lot of the offseason thinking about it the wrong way.

Going into the offseason, edge rusher help was something this team needed. We all knew that. The Lions attacked it well. D.J. Wonnum was a good addition, and the selection of Derrick Moore was great. I was all in on Moore from the Senior Bowl on. I mocked him to the Lions a ton because once we got to the NFL Scouting Combine, it just became even more evident. This guy fits the Lions in so many ways. I always kind of knew he would be a guy they were going to take.

The interior was the real concern

The problem I kept running into was the interior defensive line. I knew Alim McNeill came back a little earlier than he probably should have last season, but the feeling was that he’d look better this year. He just needed more time to heal. You have to understand, when you have a big defensive lineman like that who tears his ACL, his healing is probably going to take longer than your average receiver, quarterback, or running back. These guys are 100 pounds lighter, so it makes sense that McNeill wasn’t going to recover as fast.

Then there’s Tyleik Williams. I always knew he would be the starting nose tackle. That wasn’t even a question. Where I got concerned was what the Lions were going to do beyond those two guys. With the loss of DJ Reader, it was just like, who’s going to be the backup nose tackle around here? When Detroit signed Jay Tufele, I thought maybe that’s the guy. But even then, he’s kind of a journeyman. He’s been around the league a lot. I didn’t know if he’s the kind of guy you want to rely this whole thing on.

From there it turned into who’s going to be behind McNeill as your pass rusher. Levi Onwuzurkie could fill that role if he stays healthy. I really like rookie Skyler Gill-Howard and thought he could bring some pass rush juice, but I didn’t know if that was something he could do right away. Maybe Gill-Howard is going to be more of a help in December than he is in September or October. He might grow into a bigger role over time.

The versatility changes everything

Now that I’ve started to see the vision for the defensive line, it’s all coming together. I have to give a lot of credit to Pride of Detroit’s Jeremy Reisman for initially putting this thought into my head, because I had a very binary view of how this was all going to work. A very base-level thought. But it’s all about versatility. That’s what I see now.

It’s not so much about labeling a guy as a nose tackle. It’s more about recognizing that a guy can play nose tackle, he could play big end, he could play defensive tackle, he could play any technique you need him to play. And that’s how you populate the bottom half of this defensive line.

You start looking at Tyler Lacy and see the vision. He could set the edge as a big end in the run game, but you could also move him inside, and he suddenly has some pass rush juice from the interior while also stuffing the run. He’s a little smaller than your average defensive tackle, but he can do those things. Ahmed Hassanien has that big end availability but could also kick inside. Onwuzurkie can play on the interior. Gill-Howard can be on the inside too. There’s just so much more than what I initially thought this defensive line could bring to the table.

You start looking at these guys you thought were edge rushers, and they’re not just that. They’re a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Where the 53-man roster stands

Right now I have the Lions defensive line set with nine guys: Aidan Hutchinson, Alim McNeill, Tyleik Williams, Derrick Moore, D.J. Wonnum, Ahmed Hassanine, Skyler Gill-Howard, Tyler Lacy, and Levi Onwuzurkie. But I see a path for Myles Adams. I see a path for Mehki Wingo, Tyre West, and Aiden Keanainaa to find their way onto the 53-man roster and become potential contributors.

This thing is a lot more figured out than I thought it would be at this point. I was trying to fashion ways to get other interior guys onto this roster, and now I’m starting to think they got it. It’s all about versatility, and we’ve been thinking too much about it at a base level, assuming this guy plays this position and that’s how it’s supposed to be. But no, it’s supposed to be everybody can do anything. I feel a lot better about the Detroit Lions defensive line. We’ll see where it goes from here. There’s still a lot of work to be done, and we have to see how it all unfolds within the season. But right now, it’s all heading in the right direction.