The Lions have a lot of draft picks and salary cap money invested in their D Line, and this unit has the talent to be nothing less than dominant. That might take a few games or it might happen right away. Through the pre-season we have seen the D line be dominant and opportunistic helping to create turnovers.
There has been a lot of turnover from 2012 to 2013. Kyle Vanden Bosch, Avril, Corey Williams, Andre Fluellen, Lawrence Jackson, Ronnell Lewis, and others are all out. Vanden Bosch has been the locker room leader for this unit the last few years and the Lions are betting that Suh is mature enough to step up into that role. From what we have seen so far this pre-season that certainly appears to be the case. However, Jim Schwartz has made his living in the NFL having a strong rotation at along the D line especially at the DT spots and as it stands there are just four DT's on the roster. CJ Mosely and Justin Bannan will back up Suh and Fairley who might be the best DT pairing in the entire NFL.
Ansah, who the Lions are hoping makes a big step up to the NFL game, and we have seen signs o fthat this pre-season, along with Jones are the starting ends. Willie Young and Israel Idonije as the primary backups. Devin Taylor is also on the 53 man roster and is an extra end if needed.
This looks like a strong group and with what is invested here it certianly better be. I like the amount of talent contained here, but still think a tad much of the salary cap is invested here but that is more out of circumstance that any kind of mismanagement.
The things to watch for is Ansah's ability to pick up the game at this level, the leadership qualities of Suh, and the amount of production the ends can get when teams double team one of the two tackles which is likely to happen a lot. This unit has the skills to be very good, and let's hope they get opposing QB's on their toes.
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