It’s been nearly a week in the making, but after the Detroit Lions traded for EDGE Everson Griffen last Tuesday afternoon, he has finally completed the COVID-19 onboarding process and has been added to the active roster.
The Lions did not need to make a corresponding move following Griffen’s addition, as they had an open spot on their 53-man roster as a result of placing EDGE Trey Flowers on short-term injured reserve on Monday.
Flowers isn’t the only Lions’ EDGE player unavailable due to injury, as Austin Bryant is still on the PUP list — though he is practicing an eligible to be activated at any time — and Julian Okwara is on injured reserve and not eligible to return until after this weekend’s game.
That leaves only Griffen and Romeo Okwara available on the edge at this time.
In typical weeks, Flowers and Romeo Okwara both see roughly 55- to 60- percent of the Lions defensive snaps, meaning Griffen is stepping into a situation where he may be heavily relied on.
It shouldn’t be overly challenging for Griffen, as he is a 10 year NFL starter, was seeing similar snaps in Dallas this season, and as noted in last week’s film room, he has the skill set to hold his own in the Lions scheme.
But, if the Lions don’t want to overwhelm Griffen in his first game with the team — or he needs more time to acclimate to the playbook — they could supplement his snaps with hybrid players like defensive lineman D’Shawn Hand or JACK linebackers Christian Jones, Jahlani Tavai, and/or Reggie Ragland.