Detroit Lions: 3 things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving
By Bob Heyrman
Amani Oruwariye
In years past, this slide would-be franchise quarterback Matthew Stafford or maybe you’d expect Kenny Golladay, Trey Flowers, or even Jamie Collins. In 2020, that’s not the case. Stafford is struggling in year two of Darrell Bevell’s offense.
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Golladay, who led the league in receiving touchdowns last season and appeared to emerge as one of the top pass-catchers in football, has been battling the injury bug. Flowers, similar to Golladay, finds himself on the shelf and as good as Collins has been, I feel Amani Oruwariye deserves the nod in 2020.
Although defensive coordinator Cory Undlin refuses to use Amani Oruwariye as the teams’ shutdown corner, instead choosing to watch veteran Desmond Trufant struggle with the task week after week, Oruwariye is a surging part of this Detroit Lions defense.
Matt Patricia and Undlin have been committed to foolishly pulling Oruwariye off the field as a part of a cornerback rotation with rookie Jeff Okudah. Okudah has struggled mightily as a rookie but taking the teams’ most consistent corner off the field is a head-scratcher.
Through the first ten games of the 2020 season, the second-year corner has made 30 tackles and an interception while allowing a catch rate of just 46.8 percent. Oruwariye’s only yielded 22 receptions on 47 targets and just for 329 yards.
I should also mention that Amani has yet to allow a touchdown reception in 2020. According to Pro Football Focus (PFF), Oruwariye’s earned an overall mark of 63. That won’t jump out at you, but the low mark is mostly due to his lack of tackling; he’s missed seven tackles. Oruwariye’s 40.7 tackle grade along with his 44.1 grade defending the run go hand in hand, but let’s not forget what he’s paid to do.
Amani Oruwariye deserves a bigger piece of pie. light. Related Story
I’m excited to see what the second-year corner grows into during the coming years today; we should be thankful for the progress and growth we’ve seen to date.