5 Detroit Lions players who 'robbed the team blind' this year

The Detroit Lions had a stated goal of winning the NFC North this year, and they have accomplished that. They will host their first playoff game ever at Ford Field, all but surely as the No. 3 seed in the NFC playoffs.

The Lions have gotten what they expected, or even more, from a lot of players this season. Having five Pro Bowlers and seven more players voted as Pro Bowl alternates is great evidence of that.

But there are some players who have simply not cut it this season, due to injuries, simply struggling, having their role reduced, etc. The Lions, with as young a roster as they have right now, are lucky to not have many huge, prohibitive cap hits on their balance sheet right now. As contract extensions for some prominent players approach, that will change some moving forward.

Here are five players, however minimally compared to the situations some other teams have had and even outside their control in some cases and circumstances, who "robbed the Lions blind" financially this season.

5 Lions players who "robbed the team blind" this year

5. EDGE Romeo Okwara

The elder Okwara, off a season hampered by his recovery from a torn Achilles early in the 2021 season, and a second surgery he revealed was needed, is another player who took a pay cut last offseason to stay with the Lions.

The Lions' pass rush outside of Aidan Hutchinson has been inconsistent, and too often non-existient, this season. Okwara has played 15 games, but he hasn't played a ton (less than 20 snaps 12 times), with two sacks (albeit both over the last five games).

A $5.6 million cap hit is not egregious, overall. But that number, even after the restructure, carries some presumption of a bit more impact than Okwara has delivered this season. His last 2-3 seasons were derailed by a major injury, and he will be a free agent after the season.

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