Lions defensive tackle Levi Onwuzurike didn’t play at all during the 2022 season and the team isn’t taking his return to action for granted in 2023.
Onwuzurike has dealt with back issues for several years, but the 2021 second-round pick was able to play in 16 games as a rookie. Any hope that he’d progress into a bigger role in his second season were dashed when he was injured during training camp and had October surgery that ended his season.
When asked about Onwuzurike’s outlook recently, Lions head coach Dan Campbell said that it remains uncertain.
“We just need to see how it is,” Campbell said, via Kyle Meinke of MLive.com. “We talked to him a couple of weeks ago, he was doing good. The rehab has gone well, but you just don’t know. You don’t know with a back. But I mean certainly, he’s going to get an opportunity if the body will allow it.”
The Lions have drafted a number of strong contributors the last couple of years and adding Onwuzurike to that list would boost their hopes of making it to the playoffs, but it will be some time before anyone knows if that’s going to be a possibility.
