When it comes to team building, the Detroit Lions have maintained several philosophies over the past four offseasons. Two of the most common are as follows: they’re never comfortable with where they’re at and are consistently working to improve the team, and secondly, they also strongly believe in building all three phases of football, giving equal attention to offense, defense, and special teams.
On Wednesday, the Lions stayed true to those two primary philosophies when they claimed Trevor Nowaske off waivers, returning their 2023 UDFA linebacker to the roster.
Nowaske (6-foot-3, 237 pounds) played his college ball locally at Saginaw Valley State where he stood out for his positional versatility (he played at MIKE and SAM) and athleticism (9.86 RAS). His college film displayed strong tackling skills, fluid lateral movement, some pass-rushing chops, as well as the ability to drop into zone coverage. In my initial analysis, I favorably compared Nowaske to Anthony Pittman—Lions’ long-time special teams stalwart who departed in free agency this offseason.
After a solid training camp in Detroit, Nowaske was brought back to the Lions practice squad, and then in November, he was elevated to the active roster after the Dallas Cowboys tried to poach him. Nowaske lasted nearly two months on the roster before Detroit reluctantly waived him to make room for an influx of players returning from injured reserve. The Arizona Cardinals would claim Nowaske off waivers.
After spending the end of last season and this offseason in the desert, Nowaske was released by the Cardinals at cutdowns, and the Lions seized their opportunity to bring the young linebacker back home.
When general manager Brad Holmes was asked why—with a roster capable of competing for a Super Bowl—he claimed Nowaske, his immediate reaction was simple:
“Well, special teams,” Holmes responded. “it’s just as important as offense and defense for us.”
For the previous three seasons, the Lions have kept six linebackers on the active roster, with all of them active on game days for special teams. The Lions returned five of the six linebackers from last season, with the aforementioned Pittman as the only one to exit in free agency.
That led me to speculate: Is Nowaske viewed as the next Pittman in the Lions' eyes?
To answer that, I went back through the Lions' press conferences from 2023, both the offseason and regular season, looking for clues on how coaches viewed Nowaske. Sure enough, the special teams angle rang true every time Nowaske’s name was brought up.
Here are a few samplings of Lions coaches discussing Nowaske in 2023:
From coach Dan Campbell following 2023 preseason Game 1:
“He’s developing, he’s getting better. I thought he showed up the other day too. I thought he showed up in the game. Look at all those kickoff reps, he’s the first one down the field. I mean, it’s just over and over and over [...] He’s a guy that’s intriguing on special teams, is a core player, and then in the meantime, he continues to grow at linebacker so he’s doing good.”
Campbell, following Nowaske’s promotion to the active roster:
“Yeah, he was being poached, potentially, so we didn’t want to lose him and we felt like we had the flexibility to make that move. We feel like we’re going to need him before it’s all said and done and we like where he’s going. [...] it’s an outstanding (linebacker) room between what they’re able to do defensively, but special teams too. I mean, we rely on them for a lot, so yeah, he was a guy that we didn’t want to lose.”
Special teams coordinator Dave Fipp following the promotion:
“If he (is) up and playing in a game and active on game day, we’d get him in right away at a bunch of different spots.”
Fipp after Nowaske’s first NFL game against the Saints:
“He was great. And the thing about him, I mean, I love talking about him because I feel like he’s been a great football player since training camp and has just done a great job, [...] I was excited to see him be able to get out there because a guy like him, he’s doing all this work in practice, he’s giving the looks to the other team every single week and all he wants is a chance to play and finally got a chance to play, I thought did a nice job for us.”
So to answer my question, the Lions seem to have identified Nowaske as a potential key contributor on special teams for some time now, and I believe they view him as a Pittman-type of player.
“He does have a lot of upside with his size, he’s got straight-line speed, he’s tough, he’s physical, he has instincts for special teams,” Holmes said on Thursday. “I think that’s one of the things that, you look at a special teams player, you look at size, speed, trying to get downfield, being able to break down in open field. But he has instincts, he’s got the spatial awareness to understand where the ball’s coming. And so, all those things, it makes him have a bright future at special teams and he’s still going to be growing as a linebacker well.”
