Dan Campbell Explains Why Lions’ First-Round Rookie Has Vanished from the Lineup
Posted November 13, 2025
Tyleik Williams has been playing less and less on Sundays lately.
The Lions’ first-round rookie, who they selected 28th overall in the 2025 NFL Draft back in April, played just eight defensive snaps in Detroit’s 44-22 win over the Washington Commanders on Sunday.
This comes after he saw just 11 snaps in the Lions’ 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 9 and 22 in their 24-9 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 7. He had averaged 30.5 snaps in Detroit’s first six games,
with a high of 39 against Cleveland.
Defensive tackle Alim McNeill’s return from injury against Tampa Bay would definitely explain a general decrease in snaps for the rookie. But to be playing less than a third of his average early-season snap count? There’s got to be more to it than that.
“Tyleik’s just a young guy that is continuing to get better and growing,” Campbell said on his weekly radio appearance on 97.1 The Ticket. “There’s a little inconsistency at times, but that’s not out of the norm. Correct it, get a little bit better, and move on."
Lions rookie on the outside looking in as team gets healthier
It hasn’t been the most productive season for Williams. He currently has six tackles, one tackle for loss, and three passes defended on the year. Although, admittedly, it’s tough to quantify a defensive lineman’s impact using the box score.
McNeill isn’t the only interior lineman playing over Williams. There’s, of course, veteran run stuffer D.J. Reader, who’s played over half of the Lions’ defensive snaps this season. And Roy Lopez, signed this offseason from Arizona, has out-snapped Williams in the last two games (14 and 12).
Lopez had two tackles for loss against Washington, including half a sack.
"He's playing at a high level, man," Campbell said about Lopez. "It's one of the reasons we wanted him here. He's an outstanding role player for us. When he comes in, we don't miss a beat, man. He can lift the point of attack, man. He can. He's one of those guys, man. He plays with leverage. He's stout, he's strong, he's explosive.”
The Lions love Lopez for his violent playing style and strength. He’s quietly been one of their best additions, even if it means keeping their first-round pick on the bench to get Lopez more opportunities.
"The hard thing for [Tyleik Williams], which is a good thing for all of us, is [Alim McNeill] is playing good, [DJ] Reader’s playing good, [Roy] Lopez is playing good,” Campbell said. “So like, hey man, you got some good players in front of you right now, and so what you do is elevate his game, and then he’ll be in front of them.”
It’s still very early in Williams’ career, and like Campbell said, Detroit has a good problem to have at defensive tackle. But the Lions have clearly issued a challenge to him to play better and make more of his opportunities. We’ll see if he can get back in Campbell’s good graces.
NHL Insider Drops Outlandish Take on David Pastrnak’s Bruins Future
The Bruins aren't even sure if they'll be sellers this season, but this NHL Insider had a take that the front office could shake things to the core.
David Pastrnak had one of the crowning moments of his Boston Bruins career on Tuesday night. He scored his 400th career goal with all his teammates showing their appreciation, then added his 401st to help lead the Bruins to a second consecutive win over their rival, the Toronto Maple Leafs. With everything trending right with the Bruins and Pastrnak specifically, apparently, now is a great time to start talking about the Bruins potentially trading him away?
NHL Insider and long-time Bruins reporter Jimmy Murphy delivered this take on his Bruins Vibes podcast. He thinks that the disrespect of Pastrnak not earning the captaincy could mean that the Bruins are going to trade him away. My question would be: do we really think Pastrnak cares if the letter on his jersey is a C or an A, and does that really have some subliminal messaging about Pastrnak's future?
In my opinion, the Bruins are an Original Six franchise that values the list of players who have worn the letter. Boston made the correct choice to make Patrice Bergeron the heir apparent once Zdeno Chara left the team, but they admittedly jumped the gun a bit on giving Brad Marchand the letter. It's not that Marchand didn't deserve the letter, but they could've let the decision breathe a bit and figure out precisely what the future looked like.
The organization has plenty of time to give Pastrnak the letter. Why not appease the other candidates in the locker room a bit by putting them on equal ground with Pastrnak, and let the superstar separate himself in the conversation? He has been carrying the team on his back ever since Marchand left, and his leadership skills have been developing in tandem, according to all accounts from clips released by the team.
NHL Insider delivers an incredibly outlandish take on David Pastrnak's Bruins future
It's fine to throw out a hot take now and then, but this seems like a bizarre one from Murphy. Pastrnak is leading this team from a projected last-place finish in the Atlantic Division to tying the first-place Montreal Canadiens in points over a month into the season. While the Bruins likely finish somewhere in the middle of those two outcomes, the team has proven that this isn't going to be a full-blown teardown.
The front office now has to be wondering if they even want to be sellers this season. It'd send the wrong message to the locker room and the fans if a team that is looking competitive against some of the Eastern Conference's contenders were to sell at the trade deadline. If it'd send the wrong message to trade a player like Pavel Zacha, then trading Pastrnak would be a slap in the face to everyone.
