Detroit Lions' Romeo Okwara makes the most of chance as Ansah fill-in

Romeo Okwara should be celebrating right now.

It was just three months ago that Okwara was cut by the New York Giants and on his way to being unemployed after two nondescript NFL seasons when the Detroit Lions claimed him off waivers to help their anemic pass rush.

Okwara has been one of the season’s most pleasant surprises with a team-leading 6.5 sacks in 12 games, and is on his way to the biggest payday of his career. A restricted free agent after the season, Okwara, who went undrafted out of Notre Dame in 2016, stands to make at least $3 million next year on an RFA tender, and potentially much more if he and the Lions can work out a long-term deal.

But as satisfying as his breakout season has been, there’s one thing Okwara can’t get out of his head.

More:Lions vs. Bills predictions: Points will be at a premium

“I see a lot of missed sacks,” Okwara said. “I see a lot of sacks I could have had, plays I could have made. And (6.5 sacks is) really nothing if you want to look in terms of the best in the league, and I want to be the best.”

That’s a lofty goal for a player who had one sack in 22 career games entering the season, but Okwara has made the most in Detroit of the one thing he lacked early in his career — opportunity.

A backup to Jason Pierre-Paul and Olivier Vernon with the Giants, Okwara played sparingly in his two seasons in New York.

He got his lone sack with the team in his first career start, after Pierre-Paul went down late in the 2016 season with a core-muscle injury, then spent most of the 2017 season on injured reserve after spraining the MCL in his right knee in practice.

A new coach and new defensive system made Okwara expendable with the Giants this summer, but he has started most of the season at right end for the Lions in place of Ziggy Ansah.

Ansah separated his right shoulder in a Week 1 loss to the New York Jets, when Okwara was inactive days after being claimed off waivers. Ansah returned in a limited role in early November, regained his starting job for a Week 13 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, then re-injured his shoulder in last week’s win over the Arizona Cardinals and is out for the season.

“Heartbreaking,” Okwara said. “He’s obviously a great player and hate to see him go down. I was really sad when it happened, obviously on the field, because you want to have your brother next to you. It was definitely someone that we’re going to miss out there. You’re definitely going to miss his presence that he creates on the field.”

Okwara will make his 12th start of the season Sunday against the Buffalo Bills, where the Lions (5-8) need a win to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.

And with three games left, he has a chance to leave an indelible impression on Lions decision makers heading into an important offseason when they’re sure to address the defensive line in some form or fashion.

At 23 years old, Okwara could be the Lions’ right end of the future, or just another stopgap in their nearly three-decade-long drought of playoff success.

“Everyone has a vision for what they see for themselves,” Okwara said. “I don’t think I’m anywhere close to what that vision is for myself.”

Okwara has shown signs of pass-rushing prowess in his three months as a Lion, but his 6.5 sacks don’t necessarily scream he’s a Pro Bowler in the making.

Two of Okwara’s sacks came in under 4 seconds via good pass-rush moves, while the other 4.5 would fairly be considered coverage sacks. Okwara had two sacks in a Week 5 win over the Green Bay Packers and forced his lone fumble of the season when quarterback Aaron Rodgers went 10 yards deep on a pass drop then rolled right as Okwara looped around left tackle David Bakhtiari to chop the ball loose from behind.

“He’s really kind of been on the fast track with a lot of that stuff, where he’s a smart player, he studies the game, he understands what we’re trying to do, he really takes a lot of pride in his growing as a player and as someone (who’s) a part of our defense,” Lions coach Matt Patricia said. “So I just keep trying to give him more and more to kind of see what different situations or what different positions he can be productive in. Some of them have been really good and some of them haven’t been great, and we got to keep working on those. But he’s a guy that it just doesn’t matter to him, he’s just going to do whatever you ask him to do. So he always makes it easy from that standpoint.”

Okwara said Patricia has helped him improve mentally as a player, helped him better understand tendencies and to play more aware, just as Pierre-Paul and Vernon taught him how to be a professional as a rookie two years ago.

And as he’s closing in on his first 10-sack season since his senior year of high school, Okwara said “there’s a type of player I know I want to be and I try to be that player every day,” though for now he admits he has a long way to go.

“It’s being able to be a game-changer, be a dominant player on the field whenever I’m on the field. And be an impact player every play, someone the offense has to worry about,” he said. “And that’s what you want to be as a defensive player at the end of the day. If not, you’re just playing for no reason.”

More on Lions:Tracy Walker isn't going to let the Buffalo cold stop him

Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Download our Lions Xtra app for free on Apple and Android!