Kevin Strong has gone from little-known undrafted rookie free agent to legitimate challenger for the Detroit Lions 2019 roster. Over the last two weeks, I have had several one-on-one conversations with Strong about his experience as a UDFA reaching the NFL, the excitement of his first NFL game and what it means to him to be in the league.
Background
Strong comes from the small town of Cleveland, Texas (Population: 7,731 residents), roughly 45 minutes outside of Houston, where not many get a chance to go to college, much less make it to the big stage of professional football.
His college, the University of Texas-San Antonio, isn’t known for producing NFL players either as UTSA has only had a football program for the last eight years. Over that time period, the Roadrunners have had two players drafted — Minnesota Vikings tight end David Morgan in 2016 and New Orleans Saints EDGE rusher Marcus Davenport in 2018 — along with 11 undrafted players make it into NFL camps, five of them coming in this years draft class.
Strong started 40 games (played in 47) at defensive tackle over his UTSA career, registering 106 tackles, 26.5 for loss, seven and a half sacks, three pass deflections, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and two blocked kicks. He began hearing rumors that the NFL had him on their radar in his junior season, but initially thought it was just people “trying to make ya feel good” and didn’t really believe it was actually a real possibility until the end of his senior year.
At 6-3, 285 pounds, Strong is a bit of a tweener by NFL standards. Not quite athletic enough to be a traditional defensive end and a bit undersized to be a standard defensive tackle. This limits the range of defensive schemes interested in him but he would fit right in with creative coaching staff that deploys a defense featuring multiple schematic formations.
Enter the Lions
Strong received an invite to the Tropical Bowl and had his first official contact with the Lions front office, where they asked him a few questions in a round table discussion. The asked him a few more after his pro day, but for the most part, the two didn’t talk again until the NFL Draft.
One thing that likely helped his cause with the Lions was that their defensive line coach, Bo Davis, was Strong’s position coach at UTSA during his junior year — the season Strong identifies as his best.
Davis brought a great deal of knowledge about Strong to the Lions, and likely understood the rookie’s skill set and overall potential better than any coach in the NFL. At the conclusion of the NFL Draft, it didn’t take the Lions long to make Strong an offer and get him under contract.
Strong said he “never looked at it like he had somebody on the inside, I was just praying somebody would come get me. For it to play out and work out to be with coach Bo (Davis), I mean, it was amazing. It was one of the really good things about this transition (to the NFL).”
When Strong first arrived in Detroit for offseason training activities (OTA) and minicamp, the Lions were positionally light at nose tackle so coaches asked Strong to take reps at both his natural 3-technique position and at the nose, despite being 35-45 pounds lighter than the other nose tackles on the roster. This illustrated both Strong’s positional range and that coaches trusted his ability to learn multiple positions quickly.
With no contact allowed during spring football, it’s difficult for linemen to stand out, so entering the summer months, the buzz surrounding Strong was minimal, at best.
Home for the summer
When players broke for the summer, Strong returned home to Texas where he spent time working with youth football players at Cleveland High School in Texas.
“I get so much love and so much support (from my hometown)”, Strong said. “Everybody seems like they’re with me, they’re always supporting me. There’s a lot of kids that look up to me too, they tell me all the time. So, I just continue to push, I get excited for the moment, for the opportunity, and I just want to show the kids back home that anything’s possible.”
When you talk to Strong, you can immediately tell that every word says is genuine. He is embracing his NFL opportunity and there is a high level of appreciation and excitement surrounding him both on and off the field.
A new chapter begins
When fall training camp opened, Strong was back at the 3-technique, but he wouldn’t be limited to only this role, receiving reps at the 5-technique and as a down defensive end. Not only was he illustrating Da’Shawn Hand-like positional range (playing from the 0 to the 7-technique) but he was also making an impact as a penetrating interior presence.
“He is a little bit different than some of the bigger bodies that are out there,” coach Matt Patricia said. “From a defensive tackle standpoint, I think there is some more flexibility with some of the things positionally that we can do with him.
“Certainly, (he’s) a guy that’s trying to make the most of his opportunity, and really if you watch it closely, he’s in a lot of different positions, so he’s in the different alignments. Whether he’s down in the nose guard, the 3-technique, the 5-technique, whatever it is he’s kind of being moved around and being utilized wherever it is that he kind of needs to be plugged in. He’s done a good job of handling those different roles.”
By the time the Lions mid-camp scrimmage arrived at Ford Field, Strong was routinely making impact plays in the backfield. During the scrimmage, he had one of the best plays of the night, quickly penetrating into the backfield for what would’ve been an easy sack if it were a real game.
In six days, the game would be real and when I brought that up, Strong’s face lit up with a smile from ear to ear.
“Man, it’s like a dream come true, if you want to tell the truth. The scrimmage was amazing just to be in the stadium, but now, this Thursday (pause to smile big once again) it’s a game! It’s my official first NFL game! It’s every kid’s dream to play football. So, I’m going to take it in. I’m going to go in there, I’m not going to think about it too much, and I’m going to play my role like I’m supposed to, but at the end of the day, I’m going to make sure I have fun and just play football.”
Game Day
Strong would see the field 53 times in his first game, 51 times on defense and two snaps on special teams. He would make three solo tackles in the game and while he felt he did a good job playing his role, he wasn’t satisfied.
“I think I did my role, but I could’ve done way more. I still have a lot to work on. I didn’t make as big of an impact as I wanted to but I just tried to do what I was taught and play my technique to the best of my ability.”
While Strong’s desire to improve his game was his main post-game focus, the magnitude of what he accomplished was not lost on him. When I asked him what the feeling was like to take the field in his first NFL game, Strong responded:
“It’s really unexplainable, man. I stood out there like, it’s a dream. When we ran out into the stadium, out the tunnel, I was like, I really get to play an NFL game? It was amazing, man. A feeling like no other. I was excited, happy, and just wanted to bring all the energy I could.”
While we were talking his phone continued to buzz as he received messages from family and friends sending their congratulations.
“My phone is blowing up (joyful laughter). Man, my phone is crazy right now, so I know people were watching. For real, people are blowing me up. My sister texted me how unreal it was to see me on the field. It’s a blessing.”
Today, the Lions are currently in Texas for joint practices with the Houston Texans and Strong is just a quick car ride away from his family once again. Strong’s family will get to attend this weekends game and it’s assuredly going to bring a whole new set of feelings and accomplishments. Based on what I have learned about Strong over the past few weeks, he will soak in and appreciate every second of it.
