How Mekhi Wingo could help Detroit Lions' DL in 2025: 'He's going to be special'
The Detroit Lions haven't done much to upgrade their defensive line this offseason, but the unit this fall will look completely different than the one that finished out the year in 2024.
Aidan Hutchinson is expected back this spring from the broken leg he suffered last October in a win over the Dallas Cowboys. Marcus Davenport already is healed from the torn triceps that cost him most of last season. Alim McNeill should return sometime this fall from the torn ACL he suffered in December. And Mekhi Wingo is tracking to be cleared before training camp after tearing his meniscus Thanksgiving day.
Hutchinson is a leading candidate for Defensive Player of the Year. McNeill is one of the best interior linemen in football when healthy. Davenport could start at defensive end. And Wingo's personal defensive line coach, Brandon Tucker, said the second-year lineman is poised for a breakout season after playing 11 games as a backup last year.
"He’s going to be special," Tucker told the Free Press at Michigan pro day last week. "He’ll be special. They saw flashes of it, especially in practice. He’ll be just fine."
Wingo and Tucker worked together during the pre-draft process last spring and Tucker said the two plan to reunite this summer once Wingo is fully cleared from his meniscus repair.
Last year, Wingo had five quarterback pressures on 95 pass rush snaps, according to the NFL's Next Gen Stats, and his 1.04-second get-off time was third among Lions defensive tackles behind McNeill (1.03 seconds) and the recently re-signed Pat O'Connor (.98 seconds).
"Now he’s accustomed to the tempo and the pace of play versus coming fresh out of college he didn’t know," said Tucker, who currently works with Michigan draft prospects Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant. "He knows now, so he can prepare for the physicality and the pace and everything else. He’s got it now."
Wingo played about a quarter of the Lions' defensive snaps last season when healthy and could contribute both inside and on the edge this fall.
Tucker said the initial focus of his training with Wingo this offseason will be "just to get him back to where he was."
"Get him back to his explosiveness, his quickness," Tucker said. "It’s a project with that, just like restarting an old truck. You got to do system by system, make sure he’s good."
At defensive tackle, the Lions return their top four players from last season in McNeill, O'Connor, D.J. Reader and Levi Onwuzurike. They added Roy Lopez in free agency, and Myles Adams, Chris Smith and Brodric Martin remain under contract.
Wingo might have to compete for snaps with a rookie, too, but Tucker said he'll be ready and in position when the season comes to make noise on the field.
"If I had to start a defensive line, it would be with a guy like Mekhi Wingo and Byron Murphy who have built-in leverage and are quick and twitchy and strong," Tucker said. "We spend so much time telling tall people to stay low versus a guy that’s already there, so Wingo’s going to be special."
Dave Birkett is the author of the book, "Detroit Lions: An Illustrated Timeline." Order your copy here. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How Mekhi Wingo could help Lions in 2025: 'He's going to be special'
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