Finally healthy last season, defensive lineman Levi Onwuzurike earned a second contract with the Lions. Now he's out for another year.
Onwuzurike will miss the season after undergoing surgery on his ACL, Dan Campbell announced Sunday before the first practice of training camp.
"Levi is out for the year," Campbell said. "Levi’s surgery, it was significant but it needed to be done, out of his control, so he will miss the season."
Onwuzurike entered the NFL with a back injury that wound up costing him all of his second season, while also dealing with hip and hamstring injuries. He broke through last season with a clean bill of health, tallying a career-high 47 quarterback pressures, and re-signed with the Lions on a one-year, $4 million deal.
Given the timing of his latest setback, there's a chance that we've seen the last of Onwuzurike, 27, in the NFL. He was a second-round pick of Detroit in 2021, in Brad Holmes' first draft class.
Onwuzurike's injury is another blow to an already thin defensive line for the Lions, who will also be without Alim McNeill and Josh Paschal to start the season while hoping that Aidan Hutchinson returns to form coming off a fractured leg.