The Detroit Lions haven’t made many big moves in free agency. Outside of D.J. Reed’s three-year, $45 million contract in the opening hours of the legal tampering window, the Lions have stuck to their strategy of finding value signings to add to their depth.
That’s not a bad strategy when your team is coming off a 15-2 season. But an area the Lions have focused on is the interior of the defensive line. Alim McNeil’s availability for the start of next season is in question after tearing his ACL last December but Detroit has responded by re-signing Levi Onwuzurike and adding Roy Lopez to put next to the returning DJ Reader.
The Lions took another step in this process on Tuesday when they re-signed a player that has under-the-radar potential and could hold the fort until McNeil returns.
Lions Re-Sign Under The Radar DT Pat O’Connor
The Lions announced that they have re-signed Pat O’Connor on Tuesday, ensuring his second season in Detroit. The 31-year-old signed with the Lions after six seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and made 18 total tackles and a sack in 12 games last season.
While those are modest numbers, Pro Football Focus credited O’Connor with 10 pressures on 134 pass-rushing snaps last season and a 7.7% career pressure rate. O’Connor also logged a 6.5% win rate on pass-rushing snaps, adding to the depth that general manager Brad Holmes described as “critical” at the NFL Scouting Combine last month.
“It made it more evident that depth is a huge critical piece and that’s the entire year,” Holmes said via Dave Birkett of The Detroit Free Press. “So it might not be the first wave of free agency, it might not be the draft, it might be a Pat O’Connor during the summer that you add and you just never know that’s going to be that critical piece you need from a depth standpoint.”
The Lions have prioritized keeping their own depth players in the opening week of the free agent period. Onwuzurike was a key re-signing on the defensive line while edge rusher Marcus Davenport, wide receiver Tim Patrick and offensive tackle Dan Skipper are other depth pieces that have opted to return to Detroit next season.
It leads to a few familiar faces running it back with the Lions next year and hopefully gets them over the top to make an appearance in the Super Bowl.