One of the biggest concerns among Detroit Lions fans and NFL national media is what the team will do at edge-rusher after Aidan Hutchinson. After cutting Za'Darius Smith this offseason, the Lions are back to square one, looking for a second edge-rusher, and fans are not happy.
Campbell and Lions' GM Brad Holmes are constantly asked this question at every single press conference, but this time wielded a very interesting angle from the Lions' head coach.
"As for the pass rush, I’m glad you brought that up. Offensively, we had this big cross. We had these two posts," said the Lions' head coach. "And it takes time offensively to do that, and we did because we had to do a walkthrough with the front — the O-line and the D-line."
"So it's hard to tell. We can't go hard enough to decide how good the rush is, or how do we really prep it and get it better. We're not allowed to do that. But I am confident," said Campbell.
Dan Campbell creates more frustration with answer about Lions' pass-rush problem
Here, Campbell is referencing a play during OTAs where Sam LaPorta caught a 34-yard pass on a dual-post concept, which, as Campbell noted, is a play that takes elite protection. This play was able to succeed because the linemen can't go at full strength in OTAs, making it hard to evaluate.
Unfortunately, Campbell is right here. Whether the Lions traded for an All-Pro defensive end or not, you can't tell the strength of your linemen in walkthrough scenarios, but this answer isn't going to satisfy Lions fans one bit.
Many Lions fans find it unbelievable that Brad Holmes chose to ignore the edge-rusher position until the seventh round of the NFL Draft, and didn't sign a single impactful free agent to play that position.
Campbell claims he is confident in his defensive line, which is good, but there is no world where he doesn't say that. Luckily, we are yet to hit the month of June, and there is plenty of time for Campbell and his staff to evaluate the defensive line and decide what the next step is.
