We all know what players the Lions have lost this past offseason, but lets take a look at what the Lions still have in tow and at the top of that should be Ziggy Ansah. Ziggy was second on the team in sacks and was of the main factors that helped the Lions finish the season as the #2 ranked defense.
In his second season for the Lions, Ansah again showed flashes of being a very good pass rusher by recording 7.5 sacks in 2014. Although his sack number were down a half of a sack from 2013, Ziggy was much more of a force in stopping the run game with 37 solo tackles. PFF ranked him 7th in the NFL for 4-3 defensive ends against the run.
As the Lions look forward to the 2015 season no doubt that Ansah will be one of the players that needs to continue to grow if the Lions wish to repeat the defensive dominance that they had in 2014. Given his size and freakish athletic ability, DC Austin could really get creative with Ziggy. As a edge rusher Ziggy could be dangerous as a hand down rusher or even as a stand up guy giving opposing offensives some interesting looks and new defensive wrinkles.
We lost so much talent on our d line, it is clearly going to be on Austin to make up the difference with scheme. Mixing things up, trying his best to confuse the offense without confusing his own guys.
ReplyDeleteThis year is going to be a challenge for every guy on our Defense. What happens when Ziggy isn't seeing single blocking all year long?
If I am being honest, I believe we need Ziggy to get around 12 sacks this season. Granted, that seems like a tall order but I think we need more from him and he is in year three. Time to blow up. A #5 draft pick can't end up good. He has to end up much more than that and Ziggy hasn't gotten there yet. Is this the year?
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