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5 takeaways from DC Aaron Glenn’s media session
Aug 15, 2024 at 07:00 AM
twentyman
Tim Twentyman
Senior Writer
Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes went to work this offseason significantly upgrading the personnel on defense, especially the cornerback position. Wednesday, we got our first chance to talk to defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn since camp and get a feel from him about how all the new parts are coming together.
Here are my five biggest takeaways from that media session:
1. Good coordinators in the NFL are able to adapt their schemes to best fit their personnel. Glenn has had to do that over the last few years as the Lions continued to build up their talent on that side of the ball. After making considerable upgrades this offseason along the defensive line and at the cornerback position, Glenn finally feels like he has the personnel to match the kind of aggressive, man-coverage defensive play caller he is at heart.
“Once you start to inject players that have a certain talent then you continue to evolve and try to make sure you do things that you know that you like to do,” Glenn said. “The defensive backs that we brought in really fit my personality on how we want to get ready to play. The defensive linemen that we have, they really fit the personality of how we want to play.
“So, I’m excited to be able to do some things that I think overall as an organization that we want to do because we’re an aggressive offense, we’re an aggressive special teams and we want to be aggressive on defense also.”
2. Fourth-year defensive lineman Levi Onwuzurike has been one of the best stories of training camp so far. A back injury nearly ended his career in his second year. He’s now completely past that injury, he’s gained 20 pounds of muscle this offseason, and is consistently running with the first-team offense both inside at the three technique and on the edge. He’s looked disruptive.
The way Onwuzurike has looked dating back to OTAs, Glenn thinks he is ready to take the next step and be a really good player in this league. If Onwuzurike can be that player, their defensive front could be much deeper and more disruptive this season.
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