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The Lions have cycled through quite a few EDGE players lining up on the opposite side of the formation from Aidan Hutchinson in the last two years. There have been moments of success–notably James Houston in the last handful of games in 2022–but the position has been problematic.
After Week 1, Lions head coach Dan Campbell feels very strongly he’s found exactly who he wants in that role in Marcus Davenport. In his Detroit debut, Davenport notched four QB hits, a half-sack and several pressures on Rams QB Matthew Stafford. He and Hutchinson had banner games against the injury-ravaged Rams offensive line.
“Yeah, huge play. Huge play. The ends, it’s really what we – this is the vision the whole time,” Campbell said after the game. “This is what we knew we were going to get when we got Davenport and we felt really good about the production Hutch is bringing, brought last year, and what he was going to be able to bring this year. Then just the thought of somebody who can crush the can over there, crush the can and send him his way a little bit, or vice versa, and that’s what Davenport can do.”
Davenport and Hutchinson were key in keeping the Rams ground game contained. Los Angeles running backs gained 66 yards on 20 carries and only gained more than four yards on four of those.
Campbell continued praising Davenport,
“He’s long, he’s physical, he’s strong, he’s a big man. So, that showed up today, it showed up. We were able to hem him up a few times in there and so those, it’s good for him. It’s going to be good for Hutch and it’s going to be good for Davenport.”