6 candidates to be this year's George Johnson for Lions

Last year's Detroit Lions got a big and unexpected boost from George Johnson, the journeyman pass rusher who finished third on the team with six sacks -- the first six of his career.

Johnson impressed coaches enough during workouts last spring that when the Lions returned for the start of training camp in late July, he was playing with the first-team defense at right end.

Johnson settled in as the Lions' No. 3 end when Ziggy Ansah returned from shoulder surgery, and now that he's with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Lions are looking for his replacement.

Defensive end Darryl Tapp said that the Lions might have another Johnson in their mix, as in a pass rusher who puts up good sack numbers out of nowhere. But on the final day of minicamp Thursday, Tapp wasn't saying whom he thinks could fill Johnson's role.

"I'm not going to tell you that, because we didn't know George Johnson was George Johnson until George Johnson became George Johnson," Tapp said, his tongue fully tied.

Ansah, who has 15.5 sacks in his first two NFL seasons, 31-year-old defensive tackle Haloti Ngata and left end Jason Jones, who missed minicamp after undergoing minor knee surgery, are the Lions' most proven pass rushers. But Ngata and Jones are better against the run, and none of those three has had a 10-sack season in the NFL.

Beyond that, the Lions have a mix of young defensive linemen looking to establish themselves and journeymen who mostly have been rotational players during their careers.

"There's not a George Johnson out here, but there's Daryl Tapps, there's Devin Taylors," Lions coach Jim Caldwell said. "They're their own people. They have their own techniques and fundamentals and things that they utilize. But (if) you're talking about someone that may not have shown early on that we anticipate this year is going to do well, we hope so. We hope we have a number of them. We hope Webster's one of those guys, we hope Devin Taylor's one of those guys that comes through and plays well. And the guys that have always played well for us, we hope that they're better. That's the key. And I do think that we have the makings of that. It's a tight unit, they work hard together and they got better."

Now that the Lions' formal off-season program is in the books, here's an ordered list of pass rushers most likely to break out with a big season this fall:

DE Larry Webster: Webster did not play a single snap as a rookie last year, but he's 20 pounds heavier than when he was drafted and looks just as athletic. He's not ready for a full-time role yet, but Johnson proved that good pass rushers don't need a lot of snaps to get sacks.

DE Devin Taylor: Taylor had a disappointing second season last year, playing only 21% of the Lions' snaps. He's more of a left end in the Jones-type, but he got a lot of run in minicamp with Jones out and should see his playing time tick up this fall.

LB Kyle Van Noy: A second-round pick last year, Van Noy missed the first half of the season with a hernia and wasn't a factor when he returned. He played both middle and outside linebacker during minicamp this week, but he's more likely to pick up sacks as a rotational rusher in sub packages.

DT Caraun Reid: Someone has to start at the defensive tackle spot next to Ngata, and Reid, a second-year pro who rarely played as a rookie, took the bulk of the snaps this spring. He's not going to put up huge sack numbers, but he's a high-effort player who could fall into a handful.

DT Tyrunn Walker: See Reid, only Walker's position flexibility could put him in an even more advantageous position to pick up sacks.

DE Phillip Hunt: Hunt is no lock to make the team -- or he'd rank higher on this list -- but he did have a 16-sack season in the CFL. Maybe the Lions can catch lightning in a bottle a second straight season.

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

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