Who is Detroit's Likely Starting EDGE Rusher?
One of the biggest question marks of Matt Patricia's defense heading into the 2020 season is who will emerge and become Detroit's starting EDGE rusher.
Back in March of 2020, veteran linebacker Devon Kennard was released despite securing seven sacks in each of the past two seasons.
The writing was on the wall that Kennard's time in Detroit was likely to end when the team signed veteran linebacker Jamie Collins Sr. to a three-year contract worth $30 million.
The decision as to who will start is key since Detroit is certainly looking to drastically improve the performance of the defensive line.
It is no secret Detroit struggled to pressure the quarterback or even create many negative plays for opposing offenses.
Detroit ranked 31st in the total number of negative plays for opponents last season.
As Chris Burke of The Athletic examined:
"Where is Bryant playing? How about Julian Okwara? Conventional wisdom suggests they’ll each have an opportunity to fill Devon Kennard’s shoes on the edge, but there isn’t an obvious front runner for that gig -- Jamie Collins, Jarrad Davis, Jahlani Tavai and maybe even Romeo Okwara could fill snaps. Who earns that starting job on the edge is perhaps the biggest decision facing Detroit’s defense."
At this point ahead of training camp, Julian Okwara or second-year defensive end Austin Bryant could be the front-runners to be starters on Detroit's defensive line.
But as Burke points out, there are four other realistic candidates that could fill Kennard's role.
With that said, whoever earns the starting job must aid Detroit's defensive line in boosting productivity across numerous defensive metrics this upcoming season.
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