Getty Romeo Okwara strips Blaine Gabbert.
The Detroit Lions have some big decisions to make in free agency, but one of the easier ones should involve what to do with Romeo Okwara.
Okwara has been a fixture up front for the last few seasons after he was a waiver wire find of the team, and has come into his own as a pass rusher since. Okwara has become great playing for the Lions, and has felt like the team’s only viable pass rush threat in parts of his best seasons on the field.
There’s a new stat that all but completely proves this is the case. According to Pro Football Focus, Okwara himself accounted for 28.9% of the team’s pressures up front last season. That’s a pretty wild total realizing how many edge defenders there are on a team.
Okwara carried the Detroit attack last season from a sack and pressure perspective, and his consistency was the only reason the Lions were able to maintain pressure at all on the pocket. The Lions need to figure out how to get Okwara back into the mix with performance like this in mind moving forward.
Why Romeo Okwara Should Be Re-Signed
The Lions have put in the time to develop Okwara and believed in him when the New York Giants didn’t and sliced him from the roster. That in of itself should help the Lions’ motivation in terms of trying to get a long-term deal done. Detroit has seen other players have similar success elsewhere, so they shouldn’t give up on Okwara at this point. The team also needs a consistent pass rush and has Julian Okwara on the roster, so splitting up the brothers might not be in anyone’s best interest.
With all the factors combined, it could be smart for the Lions to keep Okwara around not only for his production on the field, but what he brings off of it as well.
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Romeo Okwara Stats
If there’s been one dangerous pass rusher this past season for the Lions that has stepped up, it’s Okwara, who came alive at the right time for Detroit most of the 2020 season. As a whole this season, Okwara managed to collect the most sacks of any Lions player (10) and he also thrives on creating pressure and panic in the pocket. With this in mind, it’s fair to say that Okwara figures to drive the bus for Detroit in terms of pass rush and has been going it alone most of the time in Detroit. That could only boost his stock when all is said and done this offseason.
As a whole, Okwara has 16 sacks to this point in his career coming into 2020 and lost a few seasons to nagging injuries. This season, he looked all but sure to pass his high water mark of 7.5 sacks from a few years back and that happened easily.
Okwara represented the entirety of the Detroit pass rush himself last season, which is just another compelling reason for him to come back.
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