Mekhi Wingo, The Detroit Lions Future 3RD DOWN SUPERSTAR!

Mekhi Wingo, The Detroit Lions Future 3RD DOWN SUPERSTAR!

ever since the NFL draft maai Wingo has been considered one of the Detroit Lion’s best values from the 2024 class a player that was projected to be a top 10 player at his position a top 100 pick and at worst going in the middle to high fourth round eventually fell to the sixth round of the NFL draft fell to the 189th selection and because of that a lot of people have kind of moved on from Makai Wingo a player that in college was talked about as one of the best pass rushing defensive tackles of his class one of the best overall defensive talents of his class a player that was projected to go in the top 75 to top 100 and a player that was looked at as one of the best players at his position has now all of a sudden seemingly become irrelevant but today we are going to talk about Makai Wingo we’re going to talk about his process through the draft why he was drafted by the Detroit Lions the role he will play on this defense as a rookie and whether or not he will be an impactful rookie for the two 2024 Detroit Lions so starting off let’s take a look at maai Wingo as a prospect maai Wingo was a sixth round selection by the Detroit Lions in the 2024 NFL draft the undersized defensive tackle came in measuring at just 6’1 and 275 pounds he is a player that obviously being that small had ad comps right it was compared to Aaron Donald as a prospect due to him being a supreme pass rusher and a little bit undersized after some great OTA in many Camp practices he’s being praised by both the media and the Detroit Lions coaching staff but how much role and how much of an impact will maai Wingo really have as a six thr selection for the Detroit Lions well in his three years at LSU Makai Wingo was really really good he played 104 tackles for the LSU Tigers he had 13 and a half tackles for loss eight and a half sacks an interception which went back for a touchdown as well as four passes defended one forced fumble and a fumbled recovery maai Wingo graded out with an 8.78 R score and despite his very poor size graded out with great explosiveness Elite Speed and Elite agility at the defensive tackle position that led most people to believe that Makai Wingo is a top 10 player at his position a top 100 player in this class and even though he had the size concerns he had the traits to make up for that size concern and had a lot of traits that a lot of people really felt would make him a strong player throughout this draft class yeah he was a little bit short and a little bit small but his quickness and strength more than made up for that yeah there was a concern about the injury he suffered in his last year of college but he was one of the hardest workers in this draft and his leadership made up for that tenfold of course being a player at LSU that wore the number 18 you can already tell that his leadership and his work ethic on and off the field is unlike any other player throughout this draft class now maai Wingo has a ton of of great traits for an NFL team he has an incredibly High motor he always chases the ball never gives up on a play and is always going to be a player that touches the ball carrier every single snap he has really good hands his hands are very quick he knows exactly what to do has a variety of pass rushing moves and is I would say far more developed than a lot of the defensive tackles coming out of this class he’s kind of the opposite of brri Martin from a year ago where brri Martin is 6 foot five and IM mountain of this you know defensive Tack and a great run stopper but has a lot to work with from a polishing standpoint but Kai Wingo is a little bit smaller he’s on the small side of defensive tackles but he’s incredibly quick and has great hand usage and is probably overdeveloped from where most defensive tackles are coming out through the draft process maai wingo’s quickness is something that was on display time and time again at LSU his Bend for being a player that is so short is surprisingly good for a player that played quite a bit on the boundary as well and his versatility right it’s something that doesn’t get talked about a lot but he has the ability to play on the inside play on the outside he has the ability to play pretty much every position on the defensive line outside of nose tackle and that versatility is massive for a lot of teams and then of course as I said earlier wearing that number 18 at LSU that symbolic number of leadership and High football character on and off the field being leader being a hard worker being a symbol for your teammates and a role model for your program that is what the number 18 carries at LSU and that’s the number that he was granted in his final year of of College athletics now maai Wingo will not play every snap for the Detroit Lions as a rookie right he is a player that will not play a lot of downs probably as a rookie with Al mcneel and DJ reer and brri Martin and Levi anque all fighting for spots in front of him there is a lot of competition for def defensive line snaps and when you throw in the fact that Josh Pascal and John Kaminsky will be taking some snaps on the inside as well there really is a lot of competition there are five to six players that will be fighting for maai wingo’s spot which could potentially lead maai Wingo to be the first player that is drafted by Brad Holmes but not ever play a snap or make the roster now on early Downs the lions are going to play alen mcneel and DJ Breer those are the Lions most two talented defensive TCH they can rush the passer okay Lee McNeil’s much better at that they both stop the run really really well and with those two on the interior I think the Detroit Lions have a top five defensive tackle duo in the entirety of the NFL early Downs will be a lot of mcneel a lot of reader and maybe a little bit of other guys sprinkled in like Pascal or Kaminsky on rushing Downs you’re GNA see a lot of the same you’re going to see alen mcneel you’re going to see DJ reer you might see Brodrick Martin come in if his development is going as to plan right big guy guys with a lot of weight to throw around that can collapse the pocket that can collapse the offensive line and stop the runner right at the line of scrimmage but where Makai Wingo is going to come in is those passing Downs right it’s the pass rushing Downs where it’s third and long or it’s an obvious pass rushing situation that’s where you put Makai Wingo at the three Tech that’s where you put in Josh Pascal that’s where you again still keep in alen mcneel but that is where McKai wingo’s bread and butter is going to be he is going to be a third down pass rusher in a set with you know James Houston and Aiden Hutchinson and Makai wingo and maybe Josh Pascal on the interor just because I think he’s a little bit quicker than maybe inol mcneel that’s the kind of package that you’re gonna see McKai Wingo get out on a light fast package that’s designed to fly around the football field cause a lot of Havoc collapse the pocket and get to the quarterback as quick as possible that is the role that Makai Wingo is going to play so while he’s not going to play Early Downs he’s not going to play obvious rushing situations he’s going to be a third down player he’s going to be a designated pass rusher kind of in the same role that James Houston plays for the edge rushers outside linebackers maai Wingo is going to play for the defensive tackles Edge rushers a quick and fast defensive tackle that can get to the quarterback quick cause some havoc in the back field and yeah he’s not GNA take on a double team and win he’s not going to you know stand up versus a Derk Henry and stop him at the line but what he will do he will put pressure on the quarterback he will be that penetrator in the middle and be a guy that will make the quarterback uncomfortable to either get off the field on third down or force a turnover that is the role that Wingo is going to play in this defense and I think he is going to be really really good at it he might not be a player that plays more than five to 10 snaps a game right he might not be a player that throughout the season plays more than 150 snaps in a year and he might end his rookie season as a box score of two sacks and a forced fumble but he’s going to be a guy that every time he’s on the field you have to account for him because he’s so quick he’s so explosive he is so quick to get to the quarterback that you can’t not account for Makai Wingo when he is on the field and that’s why a lot of people thought he would go so high is because of the impact he has on the quarterback now defensive line coach Tyro Williams has said that he is very very excited about Mak Wingo he is a guy that you know was very Advanced for his age very Advanced for his development process and he said that he’s very excited about the development that maai Wingo has already gone through in the stage that maai Wingo is currently at for the Detroit Lions as we mentioned earlier maai Wingo is kind of a little bit of a step ahead of a lot of the young pass rushers his hand usage is very good his footwork is really solid he is for all intensive purposes one of the more polished defensive tackles in this class and it’s showing throw it’s showing through mini camp and you know as we take a look back I think he’s going to play a very similar role to Josh Pascal and John Kaminsky and in a weird way he kind of is the inverse of those players which allows him to be the perfect compliment to those players right where Josh Pascal and John Kaminsky are bigger and great at stopping the run with some quickness on the interior for pass rush that is kind of the opposite of maai Wingo but again in a weird way it’s kind of of that perfect compliment where Josh Pascal moves inside for to be a quick pass rusher and really good that’s what maai Wingo was good at the versatility is there for both the high motor is there for both the culture fit is there for both the hard work is there for both and I think that they will play very similar roles on the interior with Josh Pascal having a little bit of an expanded role being the Run stopper on the exterior but I think that they will play very similar positions I think they will play very similar roles and I think they will complement one another really well on the interior of this of this defensive line again on those third down situations and on those pass rushing Downs so with all of that being said the Detroit Lions have I think a ball fire in maai Wingo a player that is going to put up maybe three to four sacks of season a player that’s not going to explode on the box score but a player that you’re going to watch on Sundays and you’re G to just look at him and say that that player is putting a lot of pressure on the quarterback that player is going to impact the defense positively every single time he is on the field and yeah maai Wingo isn’t going to play a lot right elen mcneel is better DJ reer is better if Martin is developed he can potentially be better levian uzar might take that spot Josh Pascal and John Kaminsky are going to take those reps but on the snaps that maai Wingo gets on the snaps and the third down opportunities that maai Wingo gets I think he will make the most of his opportunity and I think we’re going to have a really strong pass rushing defensive tackle on our hands so with all of that being said though that is all I have for you guys today that is my breakdown of six thr pick M wingo and kind of a little bit of an update on how he’s doing and what his role is shaping up to be if you have yet to subscribe to the Channel please make sure to do so before you click off the video you are almost 12 minutes into a video about the Lions sixth round selection so obviously you love the Detroit Lions you like the Detroit Lions content and you like this content so if you have yet to subscribe please do so we are shooting for 4,000 subscribers by training camp and we are less than 30 away so if you can help us out that’d be fantastic but with all of that being said that’s all I got for you guys right now thank you all so very much for watching of course let me know down in the comments below what you think about maai Wingo I’d be very curious do you guys have to say but with that being said that’s all I got for you guys right now thank you all so very much for watching and until next time and as always go lions

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