The Lions Found a Pass Rusher in the UDFA Pile, and Dan Campbell Can’t Stop Talking About Him
When Dan Campbell gets asked about the defensive end position these days, he usually gives you the standard coach-speak about length and athletic ability. But something different happened during his latest media session at Allen Park. Campbell started talking about undrafted rookie Anthony Lucas before he even mentioned second-round pick Derrick Moore.
That’s either a slip of the tongue or a tell. With Campbell, it’s usually a tell.
“We’ve got some guys now, between (DJ) Wonnum and (Payton) Turner and this pup (Anthony) Lucas, obviously (Derrick) Moore,” Campbell said. “We’ve got some length now, we’ve got some size and length and athletic ability on the perimeter.”
The media picked up on it immediately. When defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard stepped up to the podium minutes later, they went straight at him about Lucas. And Sheppard’s response should have Lions fans paying attention.
The Game That Put Lucas on Detroit’s Radar
Sheppard didn’t hesitate. He went straight to the tape that sold him on Lucas during the evaluation process.
“I turned on his junior film and USC and legitimately it was against LSU and he was a game wrecker,” Sheppard said.
The box score from that USC-LSU game tells you nothing. Lucas was credited with just two tackles in the Trojans’ 27-20 come-from-behind victory over the Tigers. But the film tells a different story entirely.
Lucas spent most of that game going head-to-head with LSU left tackle Will Campbell, who became the fourth overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Lucas generated three quarterback pressures and forced Campbell to have the second-worst PFF grade of his three-year college career (50.9). That’s the kind of performance that gets you noticed, even when it doesn’t show up in the stat sheet.
“If people go back, those two tackles that played at LSU that year, they both—one of them [Campbell] was the number four pick and the other [Emery Jones] went in the third round,” Sheppard said. “Those are some pretty good players and he wrecked that game. So, as a guy I had my radar up on how did we get this guy undrafted?”
The Five-Star Recruit Who Never Quite Arrived
Here’s the thing about Lucas. He was a five-star recruit coming out of high school. The kind of player who’s supposed to dominate from day one. But after transferring from Texas A&M to USC in 2023, his production never matched the hype. Over three seasons with the Trojans, he managed just 63 tackles, 7.0 tackles for loss, and 3.0 sacks.
Those are not numbers that scream NFL ready. But Brad Holmes and his scouting staff have made a career out of finding players whose tape tells a better story than their stats. And at 6-foot-5 1/2 with an 85 1/8-inch wingspan, Lucas has the kind of frame that NFL coaches dream about molding.
The question isn’t whether Lucas has the physical tools. It’s whether the Lions can extract the potential that made him a five-star recruit in the first place.
A Crowded Room Gets More Interesting
Lucas isn’t walking into an easy situation. The Lions’ defensive end room already includes Aidan Hutchinson, DJ Wonnum, second-round pick Derrick Moore, Payton Turner, and Ahmed Hassanein. That’s a lot of bodies competing for not many spots.
But here’s what we know about this Lions regime. They don’t care about draft status or pedigree when it comes to making the roster. If you can play, you’ll get your shot. And if Campbell and Sheppard are already talking about Lucas this way in the spring, he’s clearly showing them something in practice.
The pads haven’t come on yet and there’s no full contact allowed in these OTA sessions. But sometimes the best evaluators can see what they need to see even in shorts and t-shirts. And right now, they’re seeing enough from Anthony Lucas to mention him in the same breath as their second-round pick.
Is this the Lions striking gold again with an undrafted free agent, or are we getting excited about practice squad material? Let me know what you think in the comments below.
