Chase Lucas took both congratulatory pats on the helmet and some good-natured ribbing from his Detroit Lions teammates after he recovered an onside kick with 30 seconds left in Sunday’s 19-9 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the last game of the NFL preseason.
“They were giving me hassle like, ‘I’m trying to go home,’” Lucas said in the locker room after the game. “I’m like, ‘I feel it, bro. I’ve got some plays I got to make.’”
One of a couple dozen bubble players left on the Lions roster heading into Tuesday’s cut from 80 to 53 players, Lucas is emblematic of the numbers crunch the Lions face as they close Dan Campbell’s second training camp as head coach.
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The Lions have a deeper, more talented team than they did last season, which has made back-end roster decisions more difficult, and the competition for jobs is stiff at the running back, wide receiver, defensive line and defensive back positions.
A seventh-round pick out of Arizona State, Lucas played well this preseason, though he got only 45 defensive snaps in the Lions’ three exhibition games.
He played slot cornerback and safety, and impressed coaches with his grasp of the defense and communication skills, but still could be out of a job when the Lions set their initial 53-man roster.
AJ Parker, who started most of last season at slot cornerback as an undrafted rookie, and free agent addition Mike Hughes split first-team reps at the position this summer, and Tracy Walker, DeShon Elliott, Kerby Joseph and Juju Hughes appear to be in line for roster spots at safety.
“Look, we like Lucas, just what he’s been able to do,” Campbell said Monday. “He’s a pretty smart kid and he’s got a lot of energy, a lot of passion. It’s, he’s one of these guys we’re talking about right now, what do we do? But I would say that there’s nothing that’s been disappointing about what he’s done at this point.”
Lucas finished the preseason with three tackles, including one for loss Sunday on former Michigan State fullback Connor Heyward. He recovered Austin Seibert’s onside kick after the Lions scored their only touchdown late in the fourth quarter against the Steelers. And he broke up one pass in an exhibition loss to the Atlanta Falcons, when he could not hold on to what would have been a game-clinching interception.
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While plays like that dropped pick still gnaw at his football soul, Lucas said he left the preseason feeling like “I did really well. I feel like I took every opportunity that I could and I took advantage of it.”
“I feel like the biggest thing for me is like, I know that they’re watching,” Lucas said. “They’re watching everything so it’s like everything that I’m doing is not going unnoticed and honestly, man, I told A.G. (Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn) and I told A.P. (secondary coach Aubrey Pleasant), AJ Parker and Mike Hughes, they deserve those reps. One’s a first-round pick, played a lot of games. One’s an undrafted free agent who’s played a lot of games as well last year, and started.
“So I feel like wherever I can fit in I can play. And I told Coach, you can put me in the shittiest situation, I’m going to try to shit a diamond out of it. And I think they’re starting to understand that a little bit.”
Lucas said he probably would not sleep Monday night, when he planned to tame his nervous energy by reaching out to his mother.
However things shake out — he’s a prime candidate to return on the practice squad if he does not make the 53-man roster — Lucas said he’s appreciative of his opportunity.
“It’s something I’ve never had to deal with before so it’s like, I don’t know, I want everybody to be here,” Lucas said. “Like Dan says, it’s not going to happen so it’s like, it’s hard. I ain’t going to lie. But still, I just feel like, man, all the players, anybody that makes this team, we’re ready to rock regardless. I don’t even care if it’s me, if I’m on the practice squad or whatever. This team is going on a new level and I feel like we’ve got the players in this locker room to do it.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.