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Detroit Lions defensive line looking 'more dynamic' under new DL coach Terrell Williams
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- Detroit Lions defensive line looking 'more dynamic' under new DL coach Terrell Williams
After having a breakout season with the Detroit Lions in 2023, Alim McNeill isn't concerned with potentially being next in line for a contract extension or his counting stats entering his fourth year.
McNeill told his agent not to tell him about extension talks during the season and has his eyes solely set on hoisting the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the 2024 season after coming up a game short last season.
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"Win the Super Bowl," McNeill said. "That's the only personal goal."
The Lions' defensive line is made up of a mixture of returning contributors from the 2023 team that won the NFC North and reached the NFC championship game, as well as new additions through free agency and the draft to increase the talent in the trenches.
Defensive Lineman Issac Ukwu, Levi Onwuzurike, LB Mitchell Agude, Marcus Davenport and Aidan Hutchinson walk off the field during day two of the Detroit Lions training camp at the Detroit Lions Headquarters in Dearborn, Mich. on Thursday, July 25, 2024.
As you know by now, former No. 2 overall pick Aidan Hutchinson headlines the group of returners along with McNeill, Josh Paschal , John Comiskey, Levi Onwuzurike and Brodric Martin , while defensive tackles D.J. Reader and Mekhi Wingo as well as edge rushers Marcus Davenport and Mathieu Betts make up the new faces.
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The group has tested out as many front-four combinations as possible in practice to find what works despite not having Reader as he recovers from a torn quad. So far, McNeill likes what he's seeing in the first week.
"I'm very impressed with what's going on," McNeill said. "I'm just loving the chemistry that we have going together, the camaraderie we have playing together on the d-line. We are playing very aggressive, getting hands on guys, so it has been good."
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Monday was the first time the defensive line faced the Lions' highly-touted offensive line with pads on during training camp. The lines dueled during each full team drill and got plenty of 1-on-1 reps against each other on the side of the field during other portions of practice.
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McNeill said facing what he considers the best offensive line across the NFL is an iron-sharpening-iron opportunity for the defensive line facing off against decorated linemen such as center Frank Ragnow and right tackle Penei Sewell .
"That's one of the best groups in the game, the best group in my opinion," McNeill said. "So it's great to get work against them, makes everybody better."
Ragnow, who was often tasked with handling McNeill along with guards Graham Glasgow and Kevin Zeitler , said the improvement shown across the defensive line was evident on the first day they crashed into each other at full speed. He didn't single out an individual pass rusher as impressive but said the work of new defensive line coach Terrell Williams shows up in how they compete each snap.
Center Frank Ragnow is interviewed by the media during the Detroit Lions training camp at the Lions practice facility in Allen Park, Mich. on Monday, July 29, 2024.
"They all seem to be (standing out)," Ragnow said about the defensive line. "I think the new coach has been great for them and they all seem to be a little bit more twitchy, a little bit more dynamic. I think (it's) playing and less thinking. That's just from what I've seen but they've all been really impressive."
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Williams, a longtime NFL defensive line coach who most recently worked for the Titans before the Lions, has received rave reviews from the players directly under his tutelage on how he teaches to disrupt the pockets and blocking schemes.
"I love Coach T so far," McNeill said. "He's taught me so much in this short amount of time that we've been together and I can't wait to see. We're progressing so much as a d-line and as individuals. D-linemen working on different things. It's been great."
Hutchinson has improved "every day" of practice, impressing McNeill with his linear path of getting better since joining the NFL in 2022. He also praised Onwuzurike for his growth this offseason after putting in the work to battle back from chronic back issues, Martin for having a better handle of the scheme in Year 2 and Wingo for carrying over his production shown on college tape at LSU.
Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alim McNeill walks off the field after practice during training camp at the Detroit Lions Headquarters and Training Facility in Allen Park on Sunday, July 23, 2023.
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"He looks like he feels a lot better about himself," McNeill said about Onwuzurike, who was drafted 31 picks ahead of McNeill in the 2021 draft class and has played at both defensive tackle and defensive end in training camp. "He's completely healthy, feels really good. And just being Levi, that's what Levi always was. He just wanted to make sure he got back to where he was."
The fourth-year defensive tackle finds himself in a unique spot this training camp between a veteran and one of the young guys on the team. He said he is trying to help out the younger players in his group while still trying to absorb as much information as possible from Reader, a player he grew up watching in North Carolina, and Davenport on the edge.
"Davenport is just a killer," McNeill said. "He'll teach you some things, obviously technical stuff, but he's more talking about just running through people's faces. That's just who Davenport is and I kind of like that mentality he has."
Defensive Coordinator Aaron Glenn walks off the field after the Detroit Lions training camp at the Lions practice facility in Allen Park, Mich. on Monday, July 29, 2024.
The big bodies up front are not the only ones expected to factor in. The Lions' outside linebackers on the strong side, Derrick Barnes , James Houston and Betts, have gotten reps as stand up rushers on the edge of the line. Barnes said the versatility present on all three levels of the defense allows defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn to experiment with combinations to find the most effective one. That depth and versatility at each position puts the defense in a unique spot in the NFL hierarchy with depth and options at each spot, Barnes said.
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"They say always be ready and I know we got a lot of guys in the room, a lot of guys on the defense who are willing to go out there and play and there is no drop-off no matter what the rotation is."
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions DL looking 'dynamic' under new coach Terrell Williams
