Lions Add Explosive College Free Agent Pass Rusher on Waivers

Bruce Hector

Getty Bruce Hector sacks a quarterback for Navy.

The Detroit Lions lost a defensive lineman to retirement on Tuesday, but thy didn’t have to wait long to find his replacement for the roster.

After the team lost defensive tackle Brian Price to retirement early in the day, the Lions managed to strike to add a player off waivers for their team. Defensive tackle Bruce Hector was claimed by the team on Tuesday afternoon, and became the team’s first addition pre-training camp.

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The Lions revealed they were signing Bruce Hector to the team with a tweet:

Hector comes to the team as a candidate to be a camp body, but it’s clear that if he is able to show something during training and the preseason, he could push for a potential role.


Hector’s Stats and Highlights

The Lions needed a defensive lineman to help fill out their roster, so Hector makes sense as an addition for the team as a camp body that could perhaps be fighting for a role with the team otherwise. Hector has bounced around the league in several different spots, and he came into the league as an undrafted free agent out of USF in 2018. In college, Hector was very productive as a pass rusher, racking up 90 tackles and 18 sacks. In the NFL, Hector hasn’t gotten as big of a chance to shine, bouncing from the Philadelphia Eagles to the Arizona Cardinals back to the Eagles, to the Carolina Panthers and finally ending up with the Tennessee Titans. In the league, Hector has only collected 2 tackles and 0.5 sacks, but he hasn’t seen much of an opportunity to shine as of yet given his experience level.

In terms of highlights, Hector shows explosion at the point of attack, something that NFL scouts and coaches will like in a big way:

It’s true that Hector does have the skills to make an impact at the next level, and now he will be getting a shot for the Lions.


Lions Defensive Line Seeing Depth for 2021

If there was a spot on the Detroit roster that should have been primed for some sort of upgrade, it was the defensive line. The Lions lacked depth in the middle, but adding Levi Onwuzurike and Alim McNeill will help that in a big way. The deeper the Lions get in the middle of the line, the better off they will be in terms of getting better presence on the outside as well as depth.

If Onwuzurike was to be able to become a star, that would be a huge development for the Lions and their defensive line depth up front. Already, the depth has been upgraded, which is good to know ahead of a season in which the Lions have to get tougher up front on defense for a complete turnaround.

The hope for the Lions is that the team has enough defensive line depth to get by this season. With Price’s retirement and a previous injury to Joel Heath, that took a bit of a hit. Hector will provide the team some depth in camp and will allow them a chance to sort things out for a role.

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