ALLEN PARK — With the Detroit Lions scheduled to strap on pads for the first time on Tuesday, and all the hitting that goes along with it, focus will soon turn to that promising offensive line. And with good reason.
Taylor Decker was a first-round pick who became one of the best left tackles in the league last year. Frank Ragnow was a first-round pick who became perhaps the very best center in the league last year. Penei Sewell is a first-round pick who, well, let’s see what happens when he finally gets to hit a professional football player. But he was considered the best offensive line prospect in the country for a reason, and the early results have been promising.
And then there’s Jonah Jackson.
He’s become something of a forgotten man up front, although that has much more to do with the star-studded cast around him than anything else. Because he’s coming off a strong first season — he just might have been Detroit’s most consistent rookie — and has returned bigger and more refined than ever in Year 2.
“I can tell you this, Jonah’s one of the handful of guys who’s been here since basically I got this job, been in this building working like every day,” head coach Dan Campbell said. “I bring that up because I’ve seen him since February, at least seeing him around, know what he’s doing. He’s been down there with (strength and conditioning coach) Josh (Schuler) and those guys working out in the in the weight room. I already know what he’s all about, and I know the work that he’s put in, and I know what his body is able to put out. We’ve had our eyes on him, and he’s a workaholic.”
Jackson, taken in the third round of last year’s draft, opened last season at right guard before moving seamlessly to left guard. He played 1,004 offensive snaps in all — topped by only Decker on the team — and allowed five sacks, three of which came in his worst game of the year against Carolina. Otherwise he was a consistent force for Detroit in both the run and pass games.
But he knew there was a lot of room to improve, and remained in Detroit to get in more work with the coaching staff than almost anyone else on the team. He added about 10 pounds of good weight in the strength program, then used his off days on Tuesdays and Thursdays to get in some martial arts training with assistant strength and conditioning coach Morris Henry
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