It's not often that you see a Detroit Lions rookie break through on the teams' defense. It's such a talented and deep unit that you more often see rookies get relegated to the practice squad, waiting for their number to be called if necessary throughout the season.
It's what's made seeing rookie safety Ian Kennelly get another start in Week 3 of the Lions' preseason mean so much. Kennelly, who was an undrafted free agent signed by Detroit this offseason to a three year, $2.975 million dollar deal, has clearly impressed enough in training camp and in his last start to warrant another over veteran safeties Loren Strickland and Erick Hallett.
Kennelly, who had a great senior year with Grand Valley State, is now vying for a role on the 53-man roster for a Lions team that has (thankfully) avoided too many injuries at safety this offseason.
Kennelly earns another start in Lions' preseason
Learning from both Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph can only help you grow as a safety in this league, and that's exactly what Kennelly's being afforded by landing on this Lions roster as a rookie ready to sponge up as much information as possible.
While with Grand Valley State in 2024, Kennelly wracked up an impressive 64 tackles, six passes defended, three interceptions, and one tackle for loss per the Lions team page profile on the rookie.
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Kennelly has stood out as a homegrown product for the Lions, as the Michigan native has already shown he's got the right mindset for trying to outwork his competition in camp for a competitive backup spot behind Joseph or Branch.
“It’s a passing league now, so I’ve always got to work on improving my man-to-man coverage. No matter how good you get in this league, that’s something you can always improve on. Then there’s the details of knowing the defense inside and out. As a safety, we have to know a lot of different moving parts, and things can adjust on the fly within a play. You’ve got to think out there and really know all the little minute details," Kennelly told MLive reporter Kory Woods about his philosphy in camp so far.
As Woods also reported, Kennelly knows his best bet for landing with the Lions is by becoming a solid special teams option for Detroit. But, given the fact that the team seems to trust him enough over two veterans to start in these preseason games, it feels like perhaps Kennelly is working his way up the safety depth chart - making special teams seemingly go from a necessity to a second option.
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