Now is the time for Nowaske? Lions young LB makes strong impression with first defensive snaps

Trevor Nowaske played the first defensive snaps of his career in the Detroit Lions’ win over Seattle. (Getty Images)

Allen Park — When attempting to decipher how the Detroit Lions might replace injured linebacker Derrick Barnes, Trevor Nowaske probably wasn’t at the top of the list of ideas.

An undrafted rookie a year earlier, Nowaske had yet to take a defensive snap during his young career. And since being claimed back off waivers from Arizona ahead of the regular season, he’d been active just one game. Still, in the second half of Detroit’s victory over the Seattle Seahawks, Nowaske found himself on the field for eight plays.

It’s admittedly a modest workload, and not a sample size worthy of any declarative statements, yet the second-year defender out of Saginaw Valley State did enough to intrigue the Lions’ coaching staff and potentially earn him a bigger role in the coming weeks.

“The thing is, yes, he does open our eyes on some things that he can do, but we’ve been knowing Nowaske since he’s been here,” defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said. “We know what he brings to the table. We hated to lose him the first time, but we’re glad we got him back. So we’re going to continue to try to up his role and try to help him be the player that we know that he can be.”