Lions DL Levi Onwuzurike will miss 2025 season after torn ACL surgery

Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell announced Sunday that defensive lineman Levi Onwuzurike will miss the entire 2025 season after surgery to repair a torn ACL. The Lions placed Onwuzurike on the reserve/PUP list late last week, which ruled him out for the first four games of the season, but Campbell made it official on Sunday that his season is over before it started. 

“Levi’s out for the year,” Campbell said to open his press conference. “Levi’s surgery, it was significant, but it needed to be done. Out of his control, and it needed to be done. So he will miss the season.”

Onwuzurike played 16 games for the Lions in 2024, starting 10, and was responsible for 28 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble and 13 hits on the quarterback. With Alim McNeill on the PUP list to start training camp as he recovers from a torn ACL of his own he suffered in Week 15 of last season, the Lions come into training camp shorthanded on the defensive front. 

Mekhi Wingo is also beginning camp on the PUP list as he works his way back from a torn meniscus late last season, and they’ll need to find and develop some more depth along the line in training camp. Rookie Tyleik Williams figures to take on a significant role quickly for Detroit after being selected in the first round out of Ohio State. 

There’s hope McNeill and Wingo return at some point near the start of the regular season — they’re not on the reserve/PUP list which means they can be activated any time — but for a team whose defense was decimated by injuries last season, the Lions were certainly hoping to start the 2025 campaign with better health than they are. 

After spending four years as the linebackers coach in Detroit, Kelvin Sheppard enters his first season as the Lions defensive coordinator after the departure of Aaron Glenn. His promotion figures to make it a smooth transition on the defensive side of the ball, but one of his first challenges this season will be managing a defensive line that is already short on bodies before camp even begins.