Lions Bubble Watch, Week 2: Several new bubble players on defense

Our staff makes prediction for the final roster spots on defense after Week 1 of Detroit Lions training camp.

Over the past week, there has been a lot of shifting on the Detroit Lions' defense. Due to injuries, some surprise performances, and just so many reserve spots up for grabs, the Lions' roster bubble is growing on defense.

Last week, when we made our initial roster predictions in our weekly Bubble Watch series, we had 18 players whom we deemed to be on the roster bubble. That number has ballooned to 23 this week!

Here are our staff’s latest predictions for the final roster spots on defense.

See our latest predictions on offense here.

Edge defender:

• Assumed in: Aidan Hutchinson, Marcus Davenport
• New to bubble watch: Josh Paschal (from “safe” to “bubble”)

Voting:

• Al-Quadin Muhammad: 11 “IN” votes (no change)
• Ahmed Hassanein: 11 votes (no change)
• Josh Paschal: 8 votes (N/A)
• Nate Lynn: 0 votes (down 1 vote)
• Mitchell Agude: 0 votes (no change)
• Isaac Ukwu: 0 votes (no change)

Despite not yet practicing in team drills yet, the staff remains fully behind Al-Quadin Muhammad. The same goes for developmental draft pick Ahmed Hassanein, who has had some flashes early, but is clearly on the long-term track.

The biggest question here is: when will Josh Paschal be ready? We had assumed at the beginning of the season, but he remains on the Non-Football Injury list, and coach Dan Campbell’s latest update was fairly non-committal:

“Paschal will be just a tick longer (than Decker), probably early September. Labor Day maybe we can start working him into practice. That’s the plan right now.”

If Paschal can hit that deadline, he’ll likely avoid entering the season on an injury list and will, therefore, count against the roster. Of course, it’s not completely out of the question that Detroit could cut him, but it would be the first time Brad Holmes has cut a Day 2 pick of his.

Defensive tackle:

• Assumed in: DJ Reader, Tyleik Williams, Roy Lopez
• Assumed out: Alim McNeill (PUP), Levi Onwuzurike (PUP)
• New to bubble watch: Raequan Williams (upgraded to bubble)
• New to bubble watch: Keith Cooper Jr. (upgraded to bubble)

Voting:

• Pat O’Connor: 11 votes (up 4)
• Mekhi Wingo: 10 votes (down 1)
• Keith Cooper Jr.: 1 vote (N/A)
• Brodric Martin: 0 votes
• Chris Smith: 0 votes
• Raequan Williams: 0 votes

Pat O’Connor was one of the biggest winners from Week 1 of Lions training camp. Not only did he stand to benefit most from the Levi Onwuzurike injury news, but his versatility gives him multiple opportunities to make the roster, and Campbell is clearly a big fan.

“He’s a pretty smooth athlete for a big man. Played the nose, played the three, played the big end. He is, he’s versatile, and that’s why he just keeps competing to stay on rosters because it’s hard to ignore...