Did the Lions know about Levi Onwuzurike's ACL injury before they signed him?
The Detroit Lions had some very bad news on Sunday when head coach Dan Campbell told the media that defensive lineman Levi Onwuzurike was out for the season with an ACL injury. Anytime an injury like this happens, it's easy to have a rush of things come back into your head. Like last year, when […]
The Detroit Lions had some very bad news on Sunday when head coach Dan Campbell told the media that defensive lineman Levi Onwuzurike was out for the season with an ACL injury.
Anytime an injury like this happens, it's easy to have a rush of things come back into your head. Like last year, when Onwuzurike spent a few weeks dealing with a hamstring injury and then in Week 18 he went out for a few plays due to a knee injury.
He played out the rest of that game and played against the Commanders two weeks later, but there has been some online speculation that maybe he tore his ACL there and then played out rest of the season with it, and the Lions knew about the injury when they signed him, and the hope might have been that he could avoid surgery.
That's not the case, according to Lions' head coach Dan Campbell, although it still seems like the hope was that he could avoid it.
"I would say this is something that crept up. Once the season's done, it's kind of the normal aches and pains, things that go on after a season. Levi's been through a lot and but then, probably call it a month after he signed, month and a half somewhere in there, you know, knees bothering him. We keep working through it, and it's not getting any better. And so just needed to get this (surgery) done."
It's easy to be a conspiracy theorist on this one. He was projected to get a multi-year deal in the $8 million to $15 million a year range. Then he signed a one-year deal worth $5.5 million. It seemed like a giant discount at the time. It was surprising that he didn't have a bigger market.
Then the Lions added Tyleik Williams in the first round and Roy Lopez in free agency. In hindsight, those moves could have you believing that the Lions were bracing for being without Onwuzurike. We know now that this isn't the case. It's something that came up later.
Now the Lions will go into the season with Lopez and Williams as the likely starters until Alim McNell returns in what's expected to be November. Onwuzurkie's future with the team seems up in the air. We'll see if he's back in 2026. You hate to see it end this way.
Dan Campbell’s comments tell you it’s now or never for Hendon Hooker and the Lions, and could Teddy Bridgewater be coming back?
The Detroit Lions took a big chance when they drafted Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft. While he was coming off what looked to be a Hesiman-type season before tearing his ACL, Hooker’s age presented the team with a shorter turnaround to make him a premium backup. Hooker […]
