Lions DL coach Bo Davis: 'I have confidence' Ansah can stay on field

Dave Birkett | Detroit Free Press

Ziggy Ansah has missed five games over the last two seasons with injuries that have depressed his sack numbers, but first-year Detroit Lions defensive line coach Bo Davis said before the start of training camp Thursday that he does not believe Ansah will have a problem staying on the field this fall.

"I have confidence," Davis said. "I don’t look at that. It’s like anything else, one day you wake up and your foot hurts and you go like, 'Oh, man, I got a sore foot,' and then you keep going. So I have confidence that that’s just a part of it and we move forward, that’s how I look at that."

The Lions placed Ansah on the physically unable to perform list earlier this week, and Ansah won't be on the field when the team holds its first practice of training camp Friday.

Ansah missed all of training camp last year with a knee injury that required surgery after the season, and he's missed time because of knee, ankle and back injuries since his breakout 14.5-sack season of 2015.

In 2016, Ansah was limited to just two sacks because of a high ankle sprain, and last year he finished with 12 sacks but was ineffective for a large stretch of the season because of injuries.

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Davis said he thinks Ansah, far and away the Lions' best pass rusher, will be "a great player" this fall.

"I think just like the rest of them, we all have to work together to make each other have success," he said. "I think that’s what we have to do a good job of."

Ansah closed last season with a flurry, recording six sacks in the final two games, and the Lions thought enough of him to use the franchise tag on him and restrict his movement as a free agent this spring.

Injury concerns, however, prevented the two sides from reaching a long-term deal this summer, and Ansah will be a free agent again after the year.

Both Davis and new Lions defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni expressed optimism that Ansah, who sat out team drills throughout spring workouts, won't face a big learning curve in a new defense upon his return.

"I look at all injured players the same," Pasqualoni said. "There is no reason why the attention and the passion to prepare in the meetings, mentally, in practice, is not at a very high level or the same level. So the approach with an injured player is, you don’t miss a rep. You do not miss a rep. Regardless of whether you can do the walkthrough, you can do the practice, you can always, always mentally get the rep. When you’re a pro, and you’re at this level of football, that’s your job. That is your job. You’re responsible for the information. So that’s the way I look at it.”

Davis declined to say when he expects Ansah back at practice — "I’m not a trainer, I don’t know," he said — but he said he doesn't foresee Ansah having any restrictions once he's back on the practice field.

"Nope," Davis said. "We won’t do anything different. Works like everybody else."

Orion Sang contributed to this report. Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Download our Lions Xtra app for free on Apple and Android!