It’s hard to look at Levi Onwuzurike’s rookie season and call it anything other than a disappointment. The Detroit Lions second-round pick in 2021, Onwuzurike did not make much of an impact on the field, tallying just 35 tackles. two tackles for loss, one sack and one quarterback hit in 16 game appearances. He never cracked the starting lineup, and he finished with 43.2 PFF grade, which ranked him 119th out of 131 NFL defensive tackles who played at least 250 snaps.
But Lions defensive line coach Todd Wash revealed some important context to Onwuzurike’s rough rookie season: he was hurting bad.