As the only edge defender to be drafted by the Detroit Lions in the past three seasons, rookie Austin Bryant had some big expectations to live up to in 2019.
Unfortunately, he spent most of his rookie season on injured reserve. He had a notable injury history at Clemson — an ankle injury his sophomore season and a torn pec in his final year — which appeared to have carried over to the NFL.
Bryant was placed on injured reserve before the regular season started, and remained there for over two months. The rookie saw his first NFL snaps in Week 11 but did not see the field again until three weeks later.
Though he was able to play in the final three games of the season, his rookie campaign ended with yet another injury, suffered in the fourth quarter of the Lions’ final game.
Bryant is a versatile defender who was able to line up on the defensive line as a down-defensive end or on the edge as a JACK linebacker. When healthy, he is the exact kind of player that head coach Matt Patricia wants on his defense.
The rookie’s final stat line is pretty bare — just eight tackles and a quarterback knockdown on 133 defensive snaps — but that isn’t surprising as he took the field for only four games throughout the season.
In 2020, the Lions will be able to get their first real look at their 2019 fourth-round pick, as long as he can recover from his most recent injury.
