Cat Scratch Reader<\/a>\u2014who had a chance to cover Wonnum in Carolina and offered insight into what Lions fans can expect from Wonnum. Here\u2019s what he had to say.<\/p>\n1. The Lions have been without a dependable edge defender opposite of Aidan Hutchinson, so it\u2019s no surprise the team made a move on Wonnum. Do you think he\u2019s a player the Lions can trust with starter-level snaps if they need that sort of workload from him?<\/p>\n
Wonnum was entrusted with starter-level snaps in Carolina, so he\u2019ll at least be comfortable in that situation. That said, he\u2019s really a role player caliber player in that spot. The Panthers didn\u2019t have a lot of difference making talent around him, and he wasn\u2019t able to elevate that group. That said, having a player opposite him that demands as much attention as Hutchinson does might make him look better as a starter. <\/p>\n
2. Wonnum had spent the last two seasons in Carolina, but missed the majority of his first season with the Panthers while recovering from torn quadriceps he suffered on Christmas Eve of 2023. How was his availability after returning from that injury, and did it look like his game was affected by it at all?<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t all that familiar with Wonnum before he got to Carolina, so I\u2019m not too sure about his before and after, but he didn\u2019t seem too worse for the wear. He was never a particularly explosive player and he\u2019s not going to be flying down field to make plays from behind, but he\u2019s okay-ish. He didn\u2019t really have any issues with injuries once he got back. <\/p>\n
3. Where did you most notice Wonnum\u2019s impact on the field? As a pass-rusher, edge setter in the run game?<\/p>\n
Relative to the rest of the Panthers edge rushers, he was noticeable as a pass rusher. But he\u2019s probably better as a run defender at this point in his career. <\/p>\n
4. What stood out most about Wonnum\u2019s intangibles\u2014whether it was his leadership, work ethic, competitiveness, or another quality\u2014that made him valuable to the Panthers? Do you think the Panthers made a mistake in not re-signing him at the term he\u2019s reportedly agreed to in Detroit?<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think the Panthers necessarily made a mistake in letting him walk. What stood out the most about him is probably how little he stood out in either direction. He didn\u2019t pop off with any dominant displays, but there were also very few moments where you could point to him and say \u201cthis guy was the problem here.\u201d He\u2019s a nice secondary starter that fits well in a rotation but doesn\u2019t elevate the group. The Panthers simply had a numbers game and elected to let him walk to chase bigger fish in Jaelan Phillips. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many were waiting patiently for the Detroit Lions to make a move and secure some help at defensive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":829244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2075],"tags":[235,260,2567,64066,449,11309,7,6,236],"class_list":{"0":"post-829243","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-panthers","8":"tag-carolina","9":"tag-carolina-panthers","10":"tag-carolinapanthers","11":"tag-detroit-lions-5-questions","12":"tag-detroit-lions-analysis","13":"tag-detroit-lions-free-agency","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116279024384066811","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}