Dan Campbell on benching D-lineman: ‘We base everything on the tape, period’

ALLEN PARK — Lions defensive tackle Isaiah Buggs fired off some cryptic tweets over the weekend, then said some stuff about relationships changing because he had been benched for the season opener.

To Dan Campbell, it’s a lot more simple than that.

Just watch the tape.

“We base everything off the tape, period,” the head coach said. “I’ve spoken to Buggs, and that stays between us. But yeah, we feel like the guys (that are) the best prepared to go this week for this game, those are the guys that will be up.”

Buggs once looked like one of those guys. After spending three seasons as mostly a rotational player in Pittsburgh, the beefy defensive tackle found new heights after arriving in Detroit last season. He started 13 games — nearly double the number of starts he had in three seasons with the Steelers — and racked up a career-high 46 tackles, 10 quarterback hits, one sack and one forced fumble.

Buggs was rewarded for the career season, earning a two-year, $4.5 million contract in free agency. The Lions were clearly invested in Buggs anchoring the defensive line for their return to competitiveness.

But then training camp arrived, and Buggs got outplayed. Benito Jones seems to have captured the starting defensive tackle job alongside Alim McNeill, while Levi Onwuzurike, a former second-round pick, has finally put his back trouble behind him and become the interior pass rusher Detroit had always envisioned him to be. With third-round pick Brodric Martin also in the fold, Buggs not only lost his starting spot for Week 1, but found himself without a uniform altogether.

“Things change, relationships change,” Buggs said in the locker room on Monday. “There’s nothing to address, honestly. I’m just saying in life, period. It’s nothing dealing with football.”

It’s actually a lot more simple than that. This isn’t about relationships changing, and it’s all about football.

Practice football better, and he’ll play football.

“Absolutely,” Campbell said, “and he’s been told that. But it’s no different than honestly any of these players, and that includes practice-squad players. We tell ‘em, ‘You have an opportunity, make the most of it.’ And you have to show us in practice. I mean, I just go back to James Houston. There’s a reason we activated James Houston (last season). It got to the point where the guy, we just couldn’t ignore him anymore. He just kept making plays in practice, he kept stressing our offensive line, and he earned his right to get up there, and he proved that. So any player that’s on this roster has an opportunity.”

While caught off guard by the decision, Buggs says he respects the coaches being straightforward with him, and he plans to use the benching as motivation going forward.

“Oh, yeah (it’s motivating), I’m always determined to go harder every time things go against me and not my way,” Buggs said. “That’s just something I’ve been dealing with all my life, even from junior college to ‘bama, from the Steelers to here. Imma always keep going, and that’s what it’s going to be.”