Lions sign Corey Wootton

Corey Wootton as a member of the Minnesota Vikings

Lions officially sign DE/DT Corey Wootten today.  By releasing Skye Dawson yesterday, the Lions had a roster spot open and decided to give it to Wootton.

   Per Dave Birkett the Lions are bringing Corey in to play defensive end, but he could play DT if needed to.  There is already quite a crowd at DE with Ziggy Ansah, Larry Webster, Devin Taylor, Jason Jones, Darryl Tapp, Phillip Hunt and Kerry Hyder, but with  Wotton's versatility should give him the advantage to make the 53 roster.  

   His deal looks to be a minimal base one year deal with an 80k signing bonus.  Corey was a 4rd draft pick by the Bears in 2010.  He suffered several injuries at the beginning of his career and really never saw the field much in '10 and '11.  2012 he saw a lot more playing time (582 snaps) at DE and recorded 8 sacks.   But since then the Bears shifted Corey around between playing DE and DT and saw his sack total drop to 3 on 2013 despite getting 862 snaps.  

   In 2014 Wootten played for the Minnesota Vikings and play mainly at DE.  Although being switched back to a position that better suits the 6'6 270 Wootten he did not see a return to his 2012 season form.  PFF gave him a -14.8 rating with 275 snaps at DE.  

  At this point Wootten looks like a lesser version of Jason Jones, and he is on downhill trend.  Could make the 53 man roster due to his ability to play both DE and DT.  Once a promising prospect seems like his career has derailed due to several injuries.  In 2008, he suffered a torn ACL in his knee at the Alamo Bowl.  It was also discovered that he had some issues with his neck and that contributed to his draft stock falling out of the 1st round and into the 4th round. After it looked like he had gotten his career back on track in 2012, he was again sidelined with multiple injuries including back, neck, knee and had offseason hip surgery in 2014.