As the Detroit Lions were narrowing down their 53-man roster coming out of training camp, James Houston got a spot over some others who proved more worthy. One of those who was more worthy was undrafted rookie Isaac Ukwu, who had a sack in each of the three preseason games.
Ukwu was on the practice squad until he was elevated for Week 6 against the Dallas Cowboys. In his NFL debut, he played 36 defensive snaps with two tackles and a quarterback pressure. A lot of his action came after Aidan Hutchinson suffered his season-ending leg injury early in the third quarter.
On Monday, head coach Dan Campbell acknowledged that it "looked like" Ukwu's first NFL game.
"That was his first taste of real NFL football," Campbel said. "I thought as the game went on, he got better, and it looked like it was his first NFL game. That’s just the truth."
As the Lions now move to replace Hutchinson for the rest of the season, Ukwu is a clear internal candidate to fill the void.
Isaac Ukwu looking forward to more opportunity with Aidan Hutchinson out
Ukwu tore his ACL twice in college at James Madison before he transferred to Ole Miss for his final year. So Hutchinson's injury circumstance hit him a little differently.
"Obviously, I wasn't expecting to play as much as I did given what happened to Hutch, and that was terrible", Ukwu said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. "It was bad, honestly, so it's hard to shake back and just go from that situation happening, especially as a guy who's had a bunch of injuries in the past and I know how much that can suck and to just try and go to the next play.",
That being said, Ukwu is ready for an opportunity to compete for a larger role with Hutchinson out.
"I feel like when a lot of the older guys and the guys who are vets and starters are looking to me to pick up the slack and I can't let them down," Ukwu said. "So that's really the mindset I'm going to go in with, just keep working hard, keep going as if I'm going to be the guy, as if I'm going to be playing a lot and just try and stack days."
The Lions have two more practice squad elevations to burn before they have to sign Ukwu to the 53-man roster. He could be signed to the active roster before that point, but his debut was pretty clear he'll have another opportunity to play a noticeable amount in Week 7.