Another Super Bowl, another year where the Detroit Lions didn’t make the big game. But a few former Lions will be on the field in Raymond James Stadium for Sunday’s matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV.
The most notable ex-Lion in Sunday’s game is Tampa Bay defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. The No. 2 overall pick in the 2010 NFL draft by the Lions, Suh played his first five seasons in Detroit and made first-team All-Pro in both 2013 and 2014, his final year with the Lions before departing for Miami.
Suh will be joined on the Tampa Ba defensive line by Pat O’Connor. While the end never played for the Lions in the regular season, he kicked off his career in Detroit as an undrafted free agent in 2017 out of Eastern Michigan. The Buccaneers plucked him off the Detroit practice squad after Week 1 of that rookie season.
Jeremiah Ledbetter was Detroit’s sixth-round pick in 2017 and played all 16 games in his rookie season as a defensive lineman. He recorded 14 tackles and a half-sack in his one year with the Lions.
Drew Stanton is Tampa Bay’s fourth-string QB for the game, a true emergency scenario only. Stanton entered the league in 2008 as a Lions’ second-round pick. He started four games in three seasons in Detroit before embarking upon a lengthy journeyman career. He hasn’t played in a game since 2017 but has been continuously employed.
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