Former Washington Huskies defensive lineman Levi Onwuzurike was released by the Detroit Lions on Friday, two days before their season opener against the New Orleans Saints. The move was announced via the NFL transaction log.
The move ends — at least for now — a five-year relationship that began when Detroit selected the Husky in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft.
Onwuzurike, a first-team All-Pac-12 tackle in 2019, was one of the more productive interior players of the Chris Petersen era in Seattle.
Explosive off the snap and a proven run-stopper, he left Washington as a high-upside prospect and became the second pick of general manager Brad Holmes’s first Lions draft. The hope in both cities was that he would become a long-term piece on a rebuilding Detroit front.
Injuries never let that happen. A back injury cost him the 2022 season after spinal fusion surgery. He bounced back in 2024 with 28 tackles, 1.5 sacks, and a career-high workload, then re-signed on a one-year deal. Before the 2025 season even started, a torn ACL wiped out the entire year.
A little-known CBA provision then tolled that contract into 2026, keeping him under team control on a modest one-year deal.
He made the initial 53-man roster this fall after a healthy camp. Releasing him now is widely viewed as roster management: veterans on the Week 1 active roster have their salaries guaranteed for the season.
Detroit can still bring him back next week or sign him to the practice squad and elevate him. Whether that happens is unclear.
For Huskies fans, the news is familiar and frustrating. Onwuzurike was a difference-maker in purple and gold — disruptive, physical, and a staple of those late-2010s defenses.
In the NFL he has appeared in 42 regular-season games with 68 tackles, 3.5 sacks, and a forced fumble. The production never matched the draft slot, but the injuries explain most of the gap.
At 28, he is still young enough to find another locker room. Teams that need interior depth and are willing to bet on health could take a look.
For Washington, he remains part of a pipeline of linemen who reached the league even if the career did not unfold as planned.
The Lions have moved on, at least for Sunday. The former Husky is now a free agent, looking for the next chance to prove what he showed in Seattle still exists.
