Mekhi Wingo’s delayed start to training camp came after he had a second knee surgery this spring, the Detroit Lions defensive lineman told reporters after his first practice of the summer Tuesday.
Wingo tore the meniscus in his knee in a Thanksgiving win over the Chicago Bears and underwent surgery in December. He opened training camp on the physically unable to perform list.
“The initial goal was to be back by the start of training camp,” Wingo said. “That didn’t happen. Had to go back in, get something cleaned up in the knee so that kind of pushed me back a little bit but I’ve just been working my butt off, man. I’m glad to be back.”
Wingo’s return comes a little less than three weeks before the regular season opener Sept. 7 against the Green Bay Packers and gives the Lions a much-needed jolt of depth on their defensive line.
Defensive tackle Levi Onwuzurike is out for the season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ACL in the spring, rookie defensive end Ahmed Hassanein is out indefinitely after suffering a pectoral injury in last week’s preseason game against the Miami Dolphins and Alim McNeill and Josh Paschal are still on the PUP and nonfootball injury lists, respectively.
Wingo made nine tackles in 11 games as a rookie last season and produced good underlying pass-rush metrics. He had five quarterback pressures on 95 pass-rush snaps, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, and his 1.04-second get-off time was third among Lions defensive tackles behind McNeill (1.03 seconds) and Pat O’Connor (.98 seconds).
Wingo took part in individual drills Tuesday and spent part of the team portion of practice running on the side with trainers.
He said he expects to be ready for the start of the regular season.
“It’s Year 2, it’s time for me,” Wingo said. “It’s no more rookie stuff, it’s time for me to take that next step and be a guy that everybody can depend on and look to their left, see me there and know that they’re good.”
