In a tweet posted on Friday morning, former NFL offensive lineman Mitchell Schwartz had this to say about Detroit Lions rookie James Houston:
Buy Lions WireIf a scout team DL hit me with this in practice during the week I’d be so salty and just be like no way that works in a game, that’s a stupid move, that’s unrealistic, give me real rush to work against. But man that was pretty sick, well done! https://t.co/1HmNruIHGZ
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) December 9, 2022
The four time All-Pro tackle stated he’d not be happy with a scout team pass rusher making those kinds of moves against him, citing that they would not work in a real game.
In just 17 snaps over two games, Houston proved that to be incorrect.
The rookie from Jackson State was a sixth-round draft pick who had a hard time figuring out what his role would be with the Lions.
At first, he was training with the linebackers. It didn’t take too long into training camp for that experiment to end, and he was quickly doing positional drills with the defensive line instead.
He was cut after a lackluster training camp and preseason but was quickly brought back to the practice squad, where he remained until Week 12 of this season.
From an outsider’s perspective, it didn’t initially look like there was much future for Houston. The Lions coaches and players said otherwise.
Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell, two of the top tackles in the league, had to face Houston in practice constantly, and he got the best of them more times than they’d probably like to admit. Decker even stated that he once asked his position coach why Houston wasn’t playing.
The rookie quickly made himself known against the Buffalo Bills, recording two sacks and a fumble recovery despite very minimal playing time. The very next week, he showed up again and sacked Trevor Lawrence once and was very close to getting a second one.
The reason for his successes in pass rushing is due to his somewhat unorthodox techniques. Most NFL edge rushers make use of their hands to fight off linemen and get to the quarterback. Houston relies on his hips to get low and bend around the tackles.
The best example of this is the highlight clip that Schwartz was responding to. Houston initially skips past the lineman, then immediately bent his hips to swerve around the edge and make the sack.
Lions rookie James Houston (6th round; No. 217) recorded two sacks against Josh Allen and the Bills in his NFL debut. In his second game, he picked up another sack on this move: pic.twitter.com/HO2DTHIL5B
— Colton Pouncy (@colton_pouncy) December 4, 2022
The rookie has impressed in his limited role. Now that the bar is set high for what he is capable of, it’s on him and the coaching staff to replicate those successes in the upcoming game against the Minnesota Vikings.
