Explaining Loren Strickland improbable rise to Detroit Lions’ 53-man roster

Loren Strickland was too hard to ignore. Here’s why he made an improbable run to the Detroit Lions’ 53-man roster.

Loren Strickland kept hammering away and wouldn’t be denied.

A former University of Indianapolis captain, Strickland exceeded expectations by making the leap from Division II to the MAC and Ball State. Now, the 5-foot-9 hard-hitting defensive back has defied all odds by going from a $1,500 signing bonus undrafted rookie to making the Detroit Lions ’ initial 53-man roster .

Similar to fellow high school wrestler Malcolm Rodriguez a few years ago in training camp, Strickland kept bringing the noise in padded practices with his fundamentally sound and violent tackles. Even head coach Dan Campbell, during his Monday press conference following the Giants preseason game, had this to say about him:

“He just keeps making plays and that’s a great thing. He’s one of those players that I say it’s hard to ignore him. So, he’s caught our eye and he’s got a knack for playing the ball, he’s got a knack for finding the ball and getting it down, and he’s smart. Man, he’s smart. Conscientious player, and to your point, he plays all out. He is lights out and he’s an aggressive player. So, we got our eye on him. He’s doing well.”

At the beginning of training camp, Strickland was battling for reps as a safety on the third team. By the end of it, he was mixing in with the first team at nickelback when Amik Robertson and Brian Branch were sidelined, and he didn’t look out of place.

Strickland established that he was comfortable near the line of scrimmage, wasn’t afraid to swap some paint, and he excelled playing downhill. Not only did Strickland slowly earn the coaching staff’s trust with his football intelligence and instincts, by the Steelers game he was lining up as the last man on the line of scrimmage and even filling in as the eight man in the box as a stand-up linebacker.

The Lions defensive coaching staff also deserves some credit for properly teaching Strickland to acclimate to the multiple roles and identifying a player who could take on those responsibilities in a short period of time and succeed.

It’s incredibly impressive that Strickland diagnoses and trusts his keys so quickly. His rare football instincts take over to make disruptive plays.

If active on game days, Strickland, at a minimum, will become a special teams ace and bash brother with fellow rookie Sione Vaki. On the defensive side of the ball, Strickland provides a versatile depth piece as a hybrid safety-nickel defender. His role there can allow Ennis Rakestraw Jr. to remain focused on outside cornerback and for Brian Branch to remain primarily at safety. It’s still obviously early into his career, but based on how Strickland’s training camp progressed, I wouldn’t rule out him carving a niche as a situational extra defensive back in short yardage and goal line.