Detroit Lions: How realistic is a Ziggy Ansah return?

Still unsigned, Ezekiel Ansah is still the top available edge rusher on the open market. Would it hurt the Detroit Lions to get him back on the team?

For six years, Ziggy Ansah provided the Detroit Lions with mostly quality snaps. Over the past few recent seasons, the quantity of those snaps decreased due to injuries. Now he’s looking for a gig.

Currently, Ansah is waiting to sign with a team following a recovery from shoulder surgery in December of 2018 and is in no rush to do so. It’s now April and that signals his four-month appointment. Sometime very soon, we’ll know how ready he is to play.

Regardless of when the seventh year defensive end can return to action, how many of you Lions fans would welcome him back? The answer isn’t easy to come to.

Financially, Detroit is sitting on an estimated $26 million of cap space according to Spotrac.com. That’s more than enough to re-sign Ansah. Considering his questionable availability and the time of year, the price would be reasonable.

Dealing with the injuries may prove to be too much for the Lions to deal with. Despite his recent history of missing games and playing hurt, the native from Ghana is still impressive when he manages to get on the football field.

Even if Ansah was used sparingly and not as a full-blown starter, he could really help out Detroit in a rotational role. Trey Flowers, Devon Kennard and Romeo Okwara make a decent core of edge rushers but that’s far from ideal.

Defensive end isn’t the only position need for the Lions. They could go in a few different directions early in the draft. Luckily, it’s still a deep class of pass rushers. If that’s the case, is a fifth, fourth or even third round pick as good as Ziggy? Odds are no.

Me personally, I think getting Ansah back in Motown would do a great deal of help for this defense. He’s familiar with the system and a key contributor when he’s out there.

If they go this route, the Detroit Lions should add insurance in the mid to late rounds, given the talent that’ll be available, then address offensive line, tight end and wide receiver early. There’s many ways to attack the off-season and in less than a week, we’ll find out how things shake out.