The Lions signed linebacker DeAndre Levy to a five-year contract extension in August 2015 with hope that Levy would continue to be part of their defensive foundation in coming seasons.
Things haven’t gone as planned thus far. Levy hurt his hip last year and missed all but one half of one game and has played in just one game this season. Neither Levy nor the Lions have shed much light on the quad and knee issues keeping him off the field, but the fact that the linebacker says he’ll try to make it back this season suggests the injuries are on the more serious end of the spectrum.
Levy said the cycle of new injuries and setbacks in his recovery has been “pretty frustrating.”
“More than anything, I don’t want to be sidelined while things are happening on the football field and while the team is going through struggles and ups and downs and you see what’s happening with the defense,” Levy said, via Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com. “It’s tough, man. It’s tough to sit by and just watch things happen. You wonder if you would make a difference or if you could make a play here or wonder if you would be able to do something because the first three, four weeks for us was a slow start for us and kind of up and down. Standing by and watching that is tough. It’s really tough, man. I want to be a part of it and I want to help us win. Sitting back and watching it, it’s difficult.”
When a player is out of the lineup as long as Levy has been out, it’s hard for a team to make any plans involving that player as they look to the future. That leaves the Lions back at the drawing board after making Levy a key figure in their defense along with defensive end Ziggy Ansah and cornerback Darius Slay.