The NFL offseason always feels like a game of chess: this piece here, that piece there, take this piece off, add this piece back on. At the end of it, fans look back and compare the pieces added to the pieces taken away and see who’s winning.

Miles Killebrew was one of the most interesting pieces on the board for the Detroit Lions last year: Not quite a safety, not quite a linebacker, a lot of running and hitting and covering from a lot of different places on the field.

But NFL football players aren’t chess pieces, they’re human beings.

Moreover, they’re human beings who work in an industry with intense pressure, short careers and a lot of randomness. Even players who’ve been steady for years can fall apart at any time—and bit players can blossom into superstars.

Over at MLive.com, Nate Atkins named Killebrew his Detroit Lions defender most likely to break out.

“I’m comfortable, so I’m quicker. My reads are faster. I feel like I’ve improved my coverage, and my run fits have gotten a little better,” Killebrew told Atkins last week at mandatory minicamp. “It’s fun playing fast, and I feel like I’m playing faster than last year for sure.”

As Atkins notes, Detroit coaches made it easy on Killebrew, putting him out for only 15 percent of the defensive snaps. They put him in situations he was likely to succeed, and he both learned a lot and built up confidence.

This is how talent is correctly developed! But the next step is taking on more, and more difficult, assignments.

“Killebrew has to show he can handle more space in coverage,” Atkins wrote, “and that he can seamlessly read and transition to spots on defense that weren’t asked of him a year ago.”

These tests won’t be easy to pass, but if Killebrew’s as much improved as he seems to think, he’ll have a great chance to be exactly the kind of player the Lions desperately need in the back seven—and eventually, the kind of safety they’ll need starting next to Glover Quin.