He's finally back. Detroit Lions edge rusher James Houston is likely to make his return to the field for the Lions in their divisional round matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.
Here's the thing on that. It's awesome that he's back and he's ready to play. What is concerning is the expectations being held by fans. They're pretty high. At the level were there could be some disappointment if he doesn't reach them.
The expectation is that he'll jump out there on Sunday and be a force on the other side of the Lions defensive line, but with how the Lions bring guys back from injuries, he'll probably play a limited amount of snaps in this game. That must be taken into account. Even in the playoffs. Houston has not played football in months. There's going to be an adjustment period.
On a deeper level, it's worth wondering if the Lions still have the same questions they've had on Houston for a while now. Can he be more than a pass rush specialist?
Houston was the big surprise in 2022. He came on late as a practice squad elevation and showed that he could be a pretty good pass rusher and he finished the year with eight sacks. I think that really hid the fact that Houston wasn't really on the field a ton. The Lions would put him in Nascar packages and give him opportunities to rush the passer, but they didn't use him in a lot of other areas and when they did, he struggled.
That's why it took so long to bring Houston up last year. He was struggling to nail down his role as a linebacker and it looked like he just wasn't ready yet. Even this year the Lions started moving Houston around in camp in order to find a spot for him. They put him at SAM linebacker, but he was Charles Harris' backup in that spot. Lions head coach Dan Campbell talked in July about how Houston had a long way to go.
“Yeah, I think, look we’re doing a lot with him at SAM linebacker when we’re in base defense and then certainly he’ll play some of that sub D-end or get a chance to on third down. So, we know he has some ability and craft, but we’re trying to really expand his horizons if you will. Man, if he can play some of this SAM backer, (Lions DL) Charles (Harris) is really the starter right now. It takes – man, he has to dive into the playbook. He has to know the calls. He has to understand all the adjustments to formations, things of that nature and that’s where once he grows, if he can get to that point, now he – potentially, he won't come off the field, but he has a long way to go before that happens."
Basically what I'm saying is that the questions we had about Houston last year and this year are still very much there. Houston is still a player that is going through development and he should be looked as such. It seems as though he's been looked at as the missing piece to the Lions pass rush all season. While he can certainly help there, it would be better to let him get reacclimated and get surprised if he gets home instead of expecting him to go out there and net sacks right away.
This is not us taking a dig at Houston. There's talent there and the Lions should look to bring him back after this season. There's just questions to be answered and he just hasn't had enough playing time to answer them. We'll see what happens on Sunday.
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