Lions Waive Zettel, Claim Okwara

Anthony Zettel started 16 games for the Lions last season but is headed to the waiver wire. The Lions jettisoned the third-year defensive lineman to make a successful waiver claim for Romeo Okwara, whom the Giants recently cut, per Field Yates of ESPN (on Twitter).

Zettel was listed as a backup defensive end on Detroit’s Week 1 depth chart, and given his experience, he might be intriguing as a waiver add for another team by Thursday.

A defensive end out of Notre Dame, Okwara started four Giants games as a rookie. At 23, he’s three years younger than Zettel despite both being third-year players. Okwara was a 2016 UDFA, while Zettel went off the board in the sixth round.

Pro Football Focus graded Zettel as a top-50 edge defender last season and viewed the Penn State product as one of the position’s better run defenders. He registered 6.5 sacks in his second year.

Okwara played in six games for the 2017 Giants. He has one career sack, recorded as a rookie, and 24 total stops.

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