Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn has high hopes for Josh Paschal

Josh Paschal is easy, really too easy, to forget about, but Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn has high hopes for the second-year man.

Josh Paschal's NFL career didn't get off to a rousing start last year. A lingering injury from his final season at Kentucky turned into surgery to fix a sports hernia in July, and he didn't make his debut until the sixth game of the season.

Over 10 games as a rookie, Paschal played 293 snaps with two sacks (both in Week 17 against the Bears), 16 total tackles and two tackles for loss. Six quarterback pressures and four quarterback hits hinted at some potential.

In the big picture of what's been going around the Lions this offseason, Paschal has been easy to put on a back burner. But let's not forget he was a second-round pick (No. 46 overall), and his rookie season can absolutely just go down as a very early bump in the road.

Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn has high expectations for Josh Paschal

Speaking at Thursday's OTA practice, via Jeff Risdon of Lions Wire, here's what Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said about Paschal.

"I mean this is a guy, when you think about his path, like he really didn’t get a chance to have an OTA last year because he was injured. He really didn’t have much of a training camp because he was injured. I think he only played eight games, if I’m correct. So, we’re expecting that player to be the player that we drafted in the second round and actually end up improving because he’s had this time to be in the training room to work with our strength staff, to work with our coach and understand exactly what we need out of him, so absolutely I feel like this player is going to be a good player for us.”"

- Aaron Glenn

Glenn only slightly miscalculated the number of games Paschal played last year, and the broad point stands. He was unable to do OTAs and or much of training camp last year, then subsequently played more than 20 snaps in just four of his 10 games--including his first three.

There has been a bit of an idea out there suggesting the Lions could stand to add a veteran edge rusher to be a force opposite Aidan Hutchinson. But it sure looks like Paschal will have every chance to fully step into that starting role, and simply being healthier than he was a year ago will help him take advantage of the opportunity.