Detroit Lions: Goodbye and good riddance to Ziggy Ansah

Former Pro Bowl defensive end Ezekiel Ansah recently signed a new deal with the Seahawks, marking an end to a roller-coaster era with the Detroit Lions.

The legacy that defensive end Ezekiel Ansah left with the Detroit Lions is quite a murky one, to say the least. Earlier this week, the Seattle Seahawks signed Ansah to a one-year deal, where he will try to help Seattle as they rebuild their defense while simultaneously trying to earn himself another deal at the end of the season.

The ending of the Ansah era in Detroit was not a surprise by any means, as with the signing of Trey Flowers in March, a more-than-formidable replacement for Ansah who is already familiar with the defensive schemes that head coach Matt Patricia has put in place.

That signing, plus the re-upping of defensive end Romeo Okwara and the outstanding play of Da’Shawn Hand in his rookie season prove that Lions have more than a few quality players to rush off the edge, making Ansah’s value on the roster rather minuscule.

With the start that Ansah’s career got off to, it looked like he was a lock to have his name placed in the Ring of Honor at Ford Field. He racked up 30 total sacks in his first three professional seasons, more than any other defensive linemen in his draft class in that span.

His third year in Detroit was potentially his career best, as Ansah’s 14.5 sacks was a half sack off the franchise record and only trailed future Hall of Fame defenders J.J. Watt and Khalil Mack for total sacks in the 2015 season.

That thrilling start was encouraging for the franchise, but injuries may have caused that 2015 season to be Ansah’s peak. In a 2016 season where the Lions made the playoffs, Ansah was only able to put up two sacks in his 13 games, largely due to the fact that he was sidelined, mostly due to a high-ankle sprain.

While Ansah showed flashes of greatness in his time with Detroit, they were just that: flashes. He was the definition of a high risk, high reward player, as he was mostly impactful on the field if he was healthy, but as we’ve previously covered on this site, that was a pretty big if.

Consistency would not be one of the words that any Lions fan would use to describe Ansah, as those inconsistencies were painfully apparent in his 2017 season. While he was able to put up a respectable 12 sacks, that number is a bit inflated due to half of those sacks coming in the final two weeks of the season, when the Lions were effectively out of playoff contention.

Ansah was only able to play 19 healthy snaps in the 2018 season before reaggravating the shoulder that has plagued him his whole career, keeping from the field for six games, before a six game return and ultimately being shut down for a season.

Bad Shoulders. Concussions. High ankle sprains. There was always an injury when it came to Ansah, as rarely played on the field at 100 percent health.

Don’t get me wrong, Ansah is still a very good football player. And with the luck that talented athletes have in Detroit, he’ll probably have a career revival in Seattle, which any Lions fan should hope for. When Ansah was healthy last season, he remained Detroit’s most effective pass rusher.

That sentence is what will ultimately define Ansah’s career in Detroit. He was one of the most talented defenders to don the Honolulu Blue in years. But as is often the case with Detroit athletes, he never lived up to his full potential while never really winning anything meaningful in his six years with the team.