Felix Anudike-Uzomah vs the Lions: Flashes and lots of work to do

Looking at every snap of the rookie edge, who has a role for the taking if he can develop on the promise he shows on some snaps.

Now that Chris Jones has ended his holdout and returned to the Chiefs, there are a lot fewer questions about what the defensive line rotation is going to look like.

However, Jones and the interior weren’t the only questions marks heading into this season. With the departures of Frank Clark and (so far) Carlos Dunlap, Steve Spagnuolo’s defense has over a full-time player’s worth of snaps to replace at defensive end. Brett Veach brought in Charles Omenihu to fill some of those snaps, at least on early downs (he really belongs inside on late downs), but there are still snaps to be had in the DE rotation.

Enter first-round pick Felix Anudike-Uzomah, who has an opportunity in front of him to grab a spot in the rotation very early (similar to last year’s first-round pick George Karlaftis). The rookie pass rusher, who had a productive college career at Kansas State, showed some flashes in the preseason. But on Sunday he got his first “real” NFL action, seeing 19 snaps as the defense tried to get by without Jones and Omenihu.

So how did the rookie perform? As ever, one can’t gauge much based on individual highlights or lowlights. So I went back and charted each snap for wins and losses against the pass and the run, as well as “neutral” snaps for both. Let’s talk about where Felix (I’m trying his first name out this time rather than “FAU”) flashed, how he won, and where he needs work if he wants to be able to develop into an impact player as the season moves along.